Olympian Gods, Truth or Dare?
by AriaNiel
Summary: Truth or Dare? Join the Olympian Gods as they play a hilarious game of Truth or Dare!
1. Chapter 1: Another Day of Boredom

Zeus, the king of the gods snored loudly on his throne, his chin rested to his right palm. His wife, Hera, had her eyes almost dropping from drifting asleep. She gazed at her wrist and a wristwatch appeared on it, showing the right time. It was 11:40 am.

"Hermes should be here any moment," she told herself.

By the fireplace at the throne room, Hestia was there in the form of a nine-year old girl, poking the flames with a stick. The fire did not emit heat when the goddess did not want to, especially in a hot day.

The flapping of wings are heard, followed by a familiar thump. Hermes approached the throne room to meet the three Olympians. Zeus woke up to the footsteps of his son.

"Oh," he mumbled, still with sleepy eyes. "You."

"I've done delivering a few hours ago." Hermes said. "No God felt like sending stuff. Even Iris and Fleecy received a few IM's today."

"No one felt like doing anything today, huh," Hera cupped her cheeks.

Suddenly, a frantic voice ran into the room. Zeus bolted awake.

"Gods!" Yelled Apollo, his blonde hair ruined. "Cover me!" He then rushed to Hermes, clumsily hiding behind him.

Zeus furrowed his brow at him. "What is it this time?"

"Apollo!" Screamed a familiar female voice.

"Aren't you tired of pranking your sister?" Hermes laughed.

"It wasn't for Artemis!" he hissed back.

Artemis entered the room, furious. All the Gods in the room looked at her. There was dead silence except for the cracking sounds of Hestia's fireplace.

"Artemis?" Hera broke the silence.

The Maiden Godess was wearing a pink, tube dress with a tutu-like skirt.

"Okay, what did I do to you?!" She screeches, making Apollo cower behind Hermes even more.

"I swear, it wasn't for you! Promise, not you!" He answered cowardly.

"You swear on the river styx?"

"I swear!"

"Cool down, Artemis." Hermes walked towards his throne, leaving the twin brother cowering in fear of the sister. "You heard it; it wasn't for you."

"It was for the satyr who owed me 31 drachmas," Apollo muttered, which was enough for Artemis to hear.

His twin sister took a deep breath, then exhaled.

"Fine," and with one snap of her finger, the dress switched back into her regular hunting clothes. "But you're going to have to warn me the next time you pull a stupid prank like this. Leave it to Hermes the expert."

"Hey!" The mentioned god snapped.

Her twin brother cowardly nodded.

"Where are the hunters?" Asked Zeus.

"Camp Half Blood," Artemis answered calmly. "Probably teaching archery to the other campers. They need a break from hunting, I believe."

"No, they were chasing the children of Hermes," called the nine-year old Hestia, who might have been observing Camp Half Blood in her fireplace. Hermes shrugged, trying to stifle a laugh, receiving a glare from Artemis.

"Hey," a male voice called from the entrance of the throne room.

"Hello Poseidon," Hestia greeted.

"What's up?" Apollo asks.

"I just left Amphitrite and Triton fighting over which is which," The sea god answered. "And they do it like, everyday. I thought hanging out with you gods can ease my boredom."

"Cool, uncle P. The thing is, we actually got nothing to do."

Poseidon's lips formed a frown. "Never mind," he said. "Olympus is a better place for now." The sea god then sat on his throne.

"Well, look who's here." The gods looked again to the entrance. Athena appeared carrying a small sized laptop.

Poseidon rolled his eyes, and sighed. "Whatever."

"I never knew you had a laptop," Hermes teased. Athena shrugged.

"I order books via amazon," The goddess answered, sitting on her throne and opened her laptop. "And I read stories on wattpad as well."

Poseidon had to stifle a laugh. "Wattpad? Really Athena, you read those cliché romance stories?"

Artemis wrinkled her nose in disgust upon hearing the word 'romance'.

"Well I give them critiques," Athena averted her gaze from Poseidon as if he had the worst case of acne on his face. "I also give them writing advice."

"That's cool!" Apollo tells her. "Mind reading my story, Summer and Destiny?" _**(AN: Ps this is not a real story!)**_

The goddess widened her eyes at him.

"That was you?!" Athena widened her eyes, obviously flabbergasted.

Apollo's eyes were the next to widen. "So you were the one who kept commenting to "Improve my work"?

The goddess of wisdom shot him a serious look.

"What kind of story does he write?" asks Artemis, noticing how his brother kept a secret from her.

"Well," Athena did a series of typing and mouse clicking on her laptop. "Here's an excerpt from his story." Then she began reading the text, but here's how it looked like:

"Ohmygosh, the beach is prefrect!11111!1!

The sun is soooooooo hot, and everybodys so faboulous in there bikinis and shorts. D: But ohgodssssss...what is thisssss?

*gasp* Its my crush Adam! He sooo loooks good in his shorts! .  
Now I'm drooling...halp mee..."

"That is disgusting," answers Artemis.

"Thank you for the support, my beloved sister," her twin brother said.

"You're welcome, beloved brother."

"Seriously," Zeus spoke. "That's crazy. Talking like a crazed fangil who worships a mere mortal with rings in his nose.."

"I'm deeply disturbed," Hestia commented in her child voice.

"What?" Apollo looked at the other gods innocently. "I was exploring the romance cliches! A-and you know I'm better in poetry!"

"Okay, for this rare occasion..." Poseidon spoke. "Zeus is right." his brother nodded.

Everyone was silent for about twenty minutes, staring awkwardly into each other. A moment later, Apollo stood up.

"Athena, truth or dare?"

* * *

Hello, readers! Thank you for reading my first story in this website. **_I've actually published this first on Wattpad._** So if other people have posted this, it means they have copied my work. It's been around on the other website since late 2013.

You can look this story in Wattpad, but I will be editing the entire story mainly because of grammar (I was thirteen when I wrote it so). The title is still the same; my wattpad username is _**The Gelatin.**_

I would love to read your feedback for my story.


	2. Chapter 2: Let the Game Begin

"Athena, truth or dare?"

Athena held a big thought. _What is this god trying to do?_

"I choose dare," she spoke.

"Ooh, are you playing truth or dare?" Asked an enthusiastic voice, which proved to be Aphrodite, with Hephaestus standing next to her.

"Aphrodite with Hephaestus?" Asked an incredulous Hera as both entered the throne room together.

"Ares was too busy for our date," Aphrodite shrugged, frowning. "So I took my husband instead. Anyway, are you playing truth or dare?" She asked enthusiastically.

"We weren't actually playing-" Athena tried to reply but Apollo interupted her.

"Yeah! And Athena chose dare!"

The wisdom goddess glared at him.

"Anyway," Apollo continued as Aphrodite and Hephaestus took their seats, "I dare Athena to go to Camp Half Blood in a cheerleading costume, go to the mess hall, and cheer for Percabeth!"

"What?" The color had drained from Athena's eyes. She hated Percabeth, more specifically Percy Jackson, son of Poseidon. Annabeth, her daughter, was the one who fell in love with the boy, and thus became together after the Second Titan War. It was Aphrodite who thought of making the said ship name.

"Oh, I wish I had the dare!" Squealed the love goddess. "I'd like to cheer for one of my otp's!"

"O...tp's?" Wonders Hephaestus.

"One true paring," his wife answered. The blacksmith god had been outdated for quite a while.

"Sorry Aphrodite, but you can't. I dared Athena, and she has to do it alone." Apollo told her, making Aphrodite pout. "Well," The goddess switched her expression. "I'll give you the costume!" She twitched her fingers and suddenly Athena's clothing was replaced by an orange camp half blood cheerleading outfit with pom poms on her hands. She groaned before she gently placed the laptop on her throne and travelled to Camp Half Blood.

It was lunchtime at camp half blood. It was a rather hot day as the sun shone so bright (Most likely Apollo's doing) like most lunches.

The campers eating in the mess hall were surprised when Athena arrived in a cheerleading suit. Her children's jaws dropped to the floor in incredulity.

"Mother?" Exclaimed one of her children, Malcolm. The Hermes and Ares cabin did their best to stifle a laugh.

Athena took a deep breath and walked in the center of the hall.

"Lady Athena," Chiron the centaur greeted as he noticed her. "To what do we owe the pleasure of your visit?"

The goddess replied in an Aphrodite-ish voice.

"Um...I'm here to cheer for my fave OTP!" She said awkwardly, avoiding to look at her children in their respective table. She internally hoped her children would not think of her in the wrong way.

The campers looked at each other, weirded out by the scene. Most of them were trying not to laugh.

Athena took a deep breath once again and tried her best to cheer.

"Give me a P-E-R-C-A-B-E-T-H! Go...Percabeth! Oh yeah!"

A slightly shocked Annabeth sitting with her siblings fixated her eyes on Percy, who flabbergastedly froze in his own table. Chiron was speechless, and the others laughed and wolf whistled. Athena continued cheering.

"Ohhhhh yeah! Go Percabeth, it's Percabeth, yeah Percabeth!" And then she suddenly disappeared without consent. There was a pause of hesitation before a surge of laughter echoed from the campers, except for Percy and Annabeth, whose faces were pale.

All the other campers chanted the cheer, "PERCABETH! PERCABETH!"

In Olympus everyone roared in laughter.

"I could not believe what was happening," Poseidon put on a scarred reaction.

Athena snapped, and the cheerleading suit was replaced by her earlier clothing, which was a long-sleeved blouse and slacks. "I really don't like you, Apollo."

The sun god winked at her. "Well, Athena?" he asks. "Your turn."

The goddess scanned the room and made a satisfying smile.

"Poseidon, truth or dare?"

"Dare!" Poseidon replied. "I don't fear a cheerleader-"

"Go to Percy's cabin and sing 'Under the Sea' while wearing a Hawaiian grass skirt."

"Fine!"

Poseidon then disappeared.

Percy sat on his bunk in Cabin 3. The scene with Athena disturbed him so much it made his stomach churn. If he was going to witness another scene like that, then he wouldn't really be able to sleep at night.

Suddenly, someone suddenly appeared in front of him.

"Dad?" Asks Percy. Only then did he notice his father's clothing. His eyes almost popped out.

"Under the sea..." Poseidon began to sing. Percy dropped his jaw. His father's voice was horrible. He felt like his heart stopped beating throughout the song. As his father disappeared only did then Percy gasped for air.

"That would scar the life of Percy," Artemis frowned.

Apollo gasped. "You care for him?!"

"Not that I care!" she immediately protested. "You go on, Poseidon."

Poseidon looked at the others and began to think.

"Hephaestus, truth or dare?"

The fire god had to think of it.

"Dare." he replied.

"Pretend you're a genie and grant some random demigod a wish!"

"Well, that's not bad," Hephaestus shrugged and disappeared.

Hephaestus arrived at Camp Half Blood in a genie lamp, waiting for some demigod to pick it up.

"What's this?" He heard someone speak. His own son, Leo Valdez.

As soon as he felt Leo touch the genie lamp, Hephaestus got out of the lamp. He made himself unrecognizable, as he wore a genie outfit like that of that Disney movie he'd always forget and misspell.

"I am the genie of um...awesomeness!" He boomed. "Your wish is my command!"

"Dad?" Leo blinked. "What are you-"

"What is your wish, scrawny child?" His dad cut him off.

"Scrawny?!" Leo protested. "You're talking to the one and only Leo Flamin' Valdez-"

"Tell me your wish." An irritated Hephaestus said.

"Kay, um...I want ten more wishes!"

"No."

"Fine. I WANT A PONY!"

"Um...okay." Hephaestus disappeared the second after a pony fell on top of Leo.

* * *

Thank you for the reads! I also uploaded the cover photo, which might just be available later.

You guys can also share your truths and dares for the gods! Just send it in the reviews!


	3. Chapter 3: You're Gonna Hear Me Roar

It was Hephaestus' turn.

He didn't have an idea of whom to choose. If Ares was only there...dang. He could make that day history. His aggravating feelings for the god was...well, intense.

"Zeus," he calls. The tone in his voice indicated that he didn't have a choice. "Truth or Dare?"

"Dare," he answered.

What to dare? The blacksmith god kept thinking. What kind of dare would he assign to the king of the gods?

"I dare you to go up on Thalia's tree in Camp Half Blood and sing 'Roar' with the Katy Perry jungle outfit on."

Now, this was embarrassing. Hephaestus had a thought that this would get really embarrassing, but he already said it, and the other gods must have imagined the outcome.

"I'm surprised you know the song," Mused Hera.

"Lady Hera, that's rude," remarked Athena.

"N-no I wasn't!" said the accused deity. "I meant to say that he hasn't been walking around the mortal world for a while."

Hephaestus shifted awkwardly. "Well, I just kind of saw the music video earlier with Aphrodite."

"Hey," Zeus called the blacksmith god. "What part of the song do I have to sing?"

"Um, just the chorus, I guess." Hephaestus answered him.

Despite the short duration of this humiliating dare, the lightning god was going to regret it.

"Oh...alright." Then Zeus disappeared.

* * *

"So, what are we going to do?" Asked the newly recruited hunter.

"I can train you," answers Thalia, the lieutenant of the hunters of Artemis. "We could hunt for monsters in the forest. Chiron says there are almost a dozen swarming out there."

Her apprentice nodded and to the forest of the camp they walked.

They were walking by the entrance to the camp and saw the pine tree where Thalia's soul had been protecting for almost five years. The older hunter felt a surge of melancholy remembering those memories from when her father Zeus turned her into a tree to protect the camp to when she got out of the tree. Suddenly, a shrill voice was heard from above it.

 _"I got the eye of the tiger, a fighter_  
 _Dancing through the fire_  
 _'Cause I am a champion, and you're gonna hear me roar_  
 _Louder, louder than a lion_  
 _'Cause I am a champion, and you're gonna hear me roar!_  
 _Oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh_  
 _Oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh_  
 _Oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh_  
 _You're gonna hear me roar!"_

And up on the tree was her own father, Zeus himself.

"Accomplished!" He tells himself after singing horribly.

"Dad?" Thalia gaped in embarrassment.

"Wait," tells her apprentice. "This is your father, Zeus? The king of the gods?"

Zeus, upon hearing the two hunters, had his face reddened in embarrassment. He looked at his daughter, abashed.

But Thalia was confused by his look. Why would he sing Roar in his daughter's pine tree wearing a girly Tarzan outfit? There would be war with the titans and giants combined before he would do something hideous! And what did he mean by "Accomplished?"

An awkward silence followed. The father and daughter barely saw each other, and what an odd situation they were in, now.

"S-see you at the summer solstice, dad," Thalia spoke, breaking the spell.

He nodded awkwardly and disappeared.

* * *

"After three thousand years," Apollo spoke between laughs. "Dad has sung!"

"Just the same as ever," Artemis gave her father a sympathetic smile.

"I remembered how he attempted to sing for me," Hera had a smirk on her face.

Zeus grumbled. He wasn't Apollo! His voice was more authoritative than entertaining. No blaming him!

"Hermes," he motioned to the winged foot messenger. "Truth or dare?"

 _Please choose dare_ , He prayed. _Please choose dare_.

"Truth," he answered.

Zeus sighed loudly.

"Are you just afraid that I might dare you something even more humiliating than mine?" He snaps.

A stupid grin was plastered on Hermes' face. "Sort of."

* * *

Another update! Sorry if it's shorter. I published this chapter in wattpad this way. I just modified a few things.

Do you think my story's really good? Or are there certain points that I need to improve on? State it in the reviews below.

Good day, everyone :)


	4. Chapter 4: Horsieback Ride

"My turn!" Hermes cheered for himself as the grin was still plastered on his face.

"Apollo!" He pointed to the sun god. "Truth or-"

Apollo cut Hermes with a haiku, in which he was obsessed with since his visit to Japan.

 _"In this dreadful game,_

 _Hermes chose me as victim,_

 _Why am I so hot?"_

Artemis face palmed. He may be the god of poetry, but he sucks at haikus.

"Truth or dare?" Hermes repeats.

"Dare!" He answers dauntlessly.

"Okay then! Pick a god and ride on them! They have to let you ride as long as you wish! Except for me, of course!"

"Ooh!" _Now that's interesting_ , Apollo thought. At least he isn't screwed. He started contemplating on who he could hop on.

Whom to choose? Zeus? Nope. He couldn't stand his shame with his recent dare. Artemis? Never. That twin sister of his would rip him to pieces. Athena? Unwise. Very, very unwise. Hephaestus? No. The god's crippled!

"Poseidon!" He calls.

"What?!" The sea god seemed startled. "Me?"

"Oh, it's gonna be a horsieback ride!" Hermes laughs.

"Come on, horsie!" Apollo acted childishly, just like what five year olds do with their uncles.

"Eh, fine." Poseidon scratched the back of his neck and placed himself in a crawling position.

The sun god immediately leapt on Poseidon's back. The sea god grunted in pain. He never gave someone a piggyback ride for a really long time. That one time he did it was when his son Triton was having really bad tantrums as a toddler. And that was thousands of years ago.

"Okay, I quit." Apollo finally unmounted poor Poseidon and sat back on his throne. The sea god painfully walked to his throne as he grumbled something about Triton being a spoiled brat.

"Lady Hera," the sun god pointed at the queen of the gods. "Truth or dare?"

"I choose truth," she answers. _No crazy gags for me, thank you very much._

"What's it like to be in your dad's stomach?"

Hera grimaced as she recalled the years with Hestia, Demeter, Poseidon and Hades in Kronos' stomach for years. Kronos, the leader of the titans, was told that one of his children would overthrow him, so he ate them.

"First of all," she answers. "It was horribly disgusting. Being in Kronos' stomach was like living in a muck of garbage. There's pungent odor everywhere. The stomach itself was rumbling as if there was earthuake."

Everyone shuddered.

"Second, why do you want to know?"

"I was curious. Dad never told me about it."

"He wouldn't want us to know," Artemis tapped her brother's shoulder. "Trust me." _Dad wasn't in Kronos' stomach. Come on. Unless you want to._

"I guess it's my turn," The queen of the gods made a smile of contentment. "How about...Hestia?"

"Huh?" The goddess by the fireplace looked surprised. "Me?"

"Why? Do you think you were not included in this game?" Asks her sister.

"I must have been very busy with my fireplace," she replied.

"I see. So, dear sister, truth or dare?"

"I'll choose dare."

"Well, I would like you to invite Hades here."

"Hades?" grumbled Zeus. "Oh, come on!"

" _Oh, come on_ , my foot. Why won't you give him a chance?"

"More like, a chance to overthrow me! Never! He's pure evil!"

Hera ignored her husband's childish comment and continued to talk to Hestia.

"I dare you to go to the underworld, in Hades' palace, and sing 'Do you want to build a snowman' by his door. Then convince him to go here."

The fireplace in the throne room diffused warmth, despite the sunny afternoon. The game was going to be fun, Hestia thought. She liked her sister's frozen reference in the dare. With that, she changed a bit of her form into a seven year old princess Anna and transported herself to the underworld.

* * *

The underworld was gloomy, sad, and cold unless Elysium, the abode of many heroes, would be counted. The Fields of Asphodel wasn't that sad and gloomy, but it was a really boring sight to see. Hestia saw Hades' palace ahead of her, standing with all its might. The walls were obsidian, like her brother's eyes. It looked haunting, like the aura of the goddess Nyx (who was currently in the underworld with her children), but the goddess knew that Hades wasn't that evil. Yes, he betrayed them once, but he's still part of the family. Sometimes he'd just go cranky when he's in a really bad mood.

Hestia entered the palace. She was recognized by a spirit, and was told that Hades was in his chamber. Once she was in front of the door of the chamber, the goddess called his name in the sweetest way she could manage, and knocked on the door six times.

"Do you want to build a snowman?" she sang kindly.

"Huh? Who? What Snowman?" She heard her brother's muffled voice from the other side of the door, but Hestia continued anyway.

"C'mon let's go and play,

I never see you anymore, come out the door,

It's like you've gone away."

"Who are you?!"

"We used to be best buddies, and now we're not.

I wish you would tell me why?"

"For the last time, who are you?" bellowed the god of the dead. The goddess continued despite the irritating calls of his brother.

"Do you want to build a snowman?

It doesn't have to be a snowman."

"Stop with the singing! There isn't any snow here in the underworld! Sheesh!"

"Okay bye."

"Good riddance," mutters Hades.

Hestia then changed her form. She turned into a twelve year old girl, but with the same suit, that is. She knocked the door six times again, and started to sing once again.

"Do you want to build a snowman?

Or ride a bike around the halls

I think some company is overdue,"

She heard her brother growl as she was singing, as well as the sound of his footsteps.

"I've started talking to the pictures on the walls,

Hang in there, Joan."

Just then the door swung open, and Hestia's presence scared the Tartarus out of Hades, for he looked surprised.

"Hestia?" he asks.

"It gets a little lonely,

All these empty rooms,

Just watching the hours tick by-"

"What are you doing, sister?"

The goddess shrugged. "It was a dare."

Hades blinked. "A dare?"

"Yes. And I have to bring you on Olympus as well."

"Olympus?" Her brother's eyes widened. "What am I going to do there?"

"Of course, to play truth or dare with us!"

"Oh, no." Hades looked intimidated. "I've heard of that game. It's all rubbish! I'm not going to humiliate myself in front of everyone!"

"Please, it's not that bad."

"I don't believe you."

"Sorry, but this is part of the dare."

The god looked very defeated. "Alright. Fine. I'll go with you. Anyway, the song sounds familiar. What's the title?"

"It's do you want to build a snowman by Kristen Bell."

He held out his hand to his older sister's and went to Olympus. No wonder everyone was singing the song, especially that 'let it go' thing, which was from some kind of viral movie. There was also that song about what the fox says with its irritating sounds, and that annoying German-Japanese song which tune stuck in his head for months.

* * *

As they arrived, he spotted a familiar goddess who was currently cursing.

"Hestia, I'm going back," he told his older sister.

"I'm afraid you couldn't leave," Hestia made a smile.

"I am not going anywhere with that-that thing!" he pointed to the goddess.

"Oh, do you mean Demeter?"

At the mention of her name, the goddess looked to where they were.

"Oh, now he's here," Demeter complains. "That old death breath better have a good reason why he's here. He might go ruin the game."

The underworld king gritted his teeth. Hermes started smirking at Hestia, and the goddess sighed.

"Maybe it would be better if we all sit on our thrones," says Hera. Her expression wasn't that clear if she felt a tad guilty for doing the dare.

The gods who had sat already behaved in their seats. Hades and Demeter sat with a scowl. Hestia simply sat on the floor by her fireplace despite Hephaestus' requests that he would make her a throne.

"Aphrodite," Hestia calls. "Truth or dare?"

"Oh, truth!" the goddess called.

"Who among the demigod couples do you adore the most?" Of course, it was the love goddess' thing to talk about couples, so the deity brought it up.

"Oh, it's always Percabeth," Aphrodite giggles. Athena rolled her eyes in disgust, remembering the horrid cheerleading dare. Poseidon shrugged at Aphrodite's statement.

 _At least Annabeth's not as bad as her stinking mother_ , he thought.


	5. Chapter 5: Godly Controversies

"Ah, so it's my turn, then!" Aphrodite tapped her fingers on the armrest of her throne, as if trying to recall something. Then she mentioned a name.

"Artemis."

 _Oh, not me_ , Artemis thought. _Anyone but Aphrodite. Or my brother._

"Truth or dare?" asked the goddess of beauty.

Artemis had to think. If she'd choose dare, that woman might dare her to wear some girly thing of clothing. She shuddered at the thought. If she'd choose truth, she'd be bombarded about her past issues with Orion, the only guy who'd joined the hunt and became evil and sided with the giants last war and killed a lot of her hunters. Artemis internally shuddered. She had to think carefully.

"Truth," The words slipped off her mouth.

"Hm...Can you forgive Apollo for what he did to you and Orion?"

Beside Artemis, Apollo groaned.

Orion. Orion, again and again. _Could that lady give it a rest?_

"That was three thousand years ago," answered the maiden goddess, "so I forgave him."

"Alright," smiled Aphrodite, "it's your turn, Artie."

"Don't call me that," the huntress muttered, and looked around the room.

"Hermes," Artemis pointed to the mentioned god, "truth or dare?"

"Dare me," Hermes answered, imitating the look of some rage comics meme.

"You have to claim one of your children using the star wars line, I am your father."

The messenger god made a satisfying grin and disappeared. He'd only claimed those who entered Camp Half-Blood, not those who were still young and lived in their mothers. It was going to be fun.

* * *

Hermes had this unclaimed child named Warren, who lived in a village in Kentucky. He had the same features as his father: an upturned nose, salt and pepper hair, and a cocky grin. He was only ten years old at the time. Warren's mother never told him anything about his father, which is why he raised an eyebrow at him when he arrived.

"Warren," Hermes boomed with authority. "I am your father."

Warren's eyes looked like they were going to pop out. Hermes shrugged, but deep inside he wanted to laugh like crazy.

 _I like this dare!_ He giggled internally.

"It's true kid, I'm your father." He slipped his hand into his pocket and took out a card. "You might want to visit your other siblings in summer." He gave his son the card.

"And you are?" Warren glared, taking the card. The father couldn't help but look at the child's resemblance to him.

 _Whoa, he's so much like me! Look at the kid's features!_

But he was able to manage to make a straight face, and answered the boy.

"Hermes." And in the blink of an eye, he disappeared.

* * *

"That kid was a nonbeliever," Hermes said those words once he arrived back at Olympus. "What did Helena feed him?"

"Maybe Demeter's cereal," whispered Apollo.

"Nonbelievers," Artemis said, shaking her head. She must have recalled something funny.

"Shun the nonbeliever!" roared Poseidon all of a sudden.

The other gods could only stare at him.

"Well uh...of course I don't...mean that...Hermes," Poseidon titters, tapping his fingers on his throne's armrest. "I was uh...kidding!" he wanted to tap his hand on the god's shoulder, but he was seated away from him. In the end, all he did was look away.

"Um...okay," Hermes looked embarrassed and uncomfortable.

After seconds of awkward silence, Hermes cleared his throat.

"Alright, the next victim is...Athena!"

Athena arched her brow.

"Truth or dare?"

The goddess looked at him in suspicion. But thinking that perhaps it wouldn't be as bad as it seemed, she said, "Dare," again.

At her answer, Hermes sat formally on his throne (for the whole time he was actually slouching). A pipe appeared in his hand and was stuffed in his mouth.

"So," he started, the pipe hanging from his mouth. "Years ago-let me rephrase that. Thousands of years ago, you invented the flute out of your hands. It was classified later as a woodwind instrument, which means that it is made of wood, and is played by blowing air into one of the holes." As if on cue, he made an awkward attempt of using the pipe.

 _Who is he supposed to be_ , Athena thought, _Sherlock Holmes?_

"Anyway," Hermes continues, wiping a few black marks in his cheek. "The flute was a beautiful instrument. However, you never played on it, because you have to blow through one of the holes, which would disfigure your face." He paced two steps at a time.

Out of Athena's sight, Poseidon had a grin on his face, obviously imagining what Athena would look like with a disfigured face.

"That's bad acting," muttered Apollo.

"Let me guess." Athena had a look that said, _enough with this handful of detective foolishness_. "You want me to play the flute?"

"Not just that," Hermes wore a smirk. "I will have it videotaped."

"Can we do this alone?" She started to glare at him.

"No."

Defeated, Athena looked down with regrets. The triumphant god took a video camera and a flute from the back of his throne. He threw the flute to the goddess, and turned the video cam on and to everyone's surprise, pasted his face on the camera.

"HEY GUYS! Hermes here!" He shouts at the camera, trying to imitate the typical attitude of video bloggers. "Just wanna tell you that…I got the chance to dare Athena-that's right! The goddess of wisdom herself!" He let out a cackle that weirded out everyone. "I dared her to play the flute! And you're gonna-"

"Please let's get this over with," interrupts the irked goddess.

"Not so excited, are we, Athena-"

"I'm not excited."

"Whatever. Anyway, camera's on you, Athena!"

She sighed and started to play the flute for the first time in thousands of years. She managed to create a beautiful melody, but she had disfigured her face big time. Her cheeks puffed horribly, and her eyes bulged. There was no trace of her beauty. Poseidon was laughing like crazy, and so did her father. The other gods –except Apollo, who loved the melody-, covered their eyes in fear, and the goddesses could only freeze in a disturbed manner.

The second Athena played the last note, she threw her flute in the lens of the video cam, and that's where Hermes decided to stop the recording.

"That was a good piece!" beamed Apollo, who was the only one who greatly understood music than any of them. "But seriously Hermes, take that detective suit off; you're not being a good Sherlock Holmes double."

"How did you know I was being Sherlock?" The god furrowed his brow.

"I watch Sherlock, you know?"

"Oh! Figures." Hermes scratched the back of his head and took off the Sherlock clothing. They were the only ones who talked right after Athena's performance; the others were too afraid to even make the tiniest of sound.

Athena picked up her pride and inhaled deeply.

"It's my turn," she said. _The person chosen must pick dare,_ she thought.

"Demeter."

The goddess in green stared at Athena.

"Truth or dare?"

Of course, Demeter wouldn't choose dare. Not in front of the god of the underworld.

 _I am not going to do embarrassing things in front of this scumbag_ , she thought.

"Truth," she declares.

"Chicken," whispers Hades.

But Demeter heard him and switched her answer to dare, much to everyone's surprise. Athena craned her head at the right side of the throne and made a quizzical look. But she liked the changed decision. Hades provoked her to choose dare -his whispering of 'Chicken' was very obvious-, as she didn't want to see her as a passive one. _This one shall be entertaining._

"Well then," she sat back again properly. "Do you hear the muses singing just outside the palace?"

Demeter's ear kissed the wall. Athena was right. Perhaps the graces were also there, dancing to the beautiful sound. Music was also there; the music of Apollo's lyre, played by the muses or and the graces.

"I do, yes I do." she pulled her ear out of the wall.

"Then I dare you to interrupt their performance by dancing the Gangnam Style in front of them. No disguise, and no telling them that it was a dare," spoke Athena in a triumphant voice, as if she was seeing what would happen ahead.

"W-w-what?" stuttered Demeter, "The Gangnam Style?"

"Hey, I like that dance!" said Poseidon cheerfully.

The Gangnam Style was a dance which was popularized last 2012, after its viral music video that hit a billion views in YouTube. It was also called "the horse dance", since it had movements of people when riding horses. Demeter was one of the few people who didn't seem to like it.

"No way!" screeched Demeter. "Not that!"

A smirk was already on Hades' face.

Athena simply shrugged. "I'm sorry, but rules are rules. You have to do the dare."

Demeter wasn't going to be really lucky.

* * *

Hi, readers! How was the chapter? :)

I'd also like to announce again and again: If you want to send me truths or dares, please pm me or place it in the reviews below!

ps. I'll also be posting a Shingeki no Kyojin fanfiction soon! Who among you are fans of the anime? :D


	6. Chapter 6: Extremity

"OPPA GANGNAM STYLE!"

All heads turned to Demeter, dancing to the Korean hit. Even the muses and graces stopped performing from their stages. The goddess' speakers were blaring loudly; even the other creatures who weren't watching the performance of the graces and the muses could hear it at a fine volume. But no one dared to comment about Demeter's bad -like, really bad- dancing.

Awkwardness engulfed the place until the muse of dance, Terpsichore, shouted:

"FLASH MOB!"

The muses danced with the goddess, followed by the graces, and then the spectators, who correctly know the moves to the famed song. Demeter thought it was the perfect time to escape; however, the graces turned the spotlight to her, making her the center of attention.

The panting corn goddess was in the midst of jeers when she appeared at the entrance of the throne room.

Artemis saw her worn out face and said, "Well, that was healthy."

"Healthier than cereal," mutters Hades.

Unfortunately, Demeter heard him. Her short temper was beginning to show. The gods started panicking, except for Hades.

"Lady Demeter!" Apollo called, tittering. "H-how about I give you ambrosia? I-I bet you're really tired!"

"That woman won't accept ambrosia," said the underworld king. "All she wants to inhale is that stupid cereal of hers."

Apparently, that made things worse.

Demeter was now growling at Hades, who seemed not to care. The other deities were tense, until a small voice was heard from the door.

"Mother?"

They looked at the entrance to see Persephone, the daughter of the raging goddess. She gave Demeter an exhausted look; she knew it was her temper issues again. She scanned the throne room and found Hades sitting casually with a smug face on.

"Alright, what did you do to my mother?" she sighed exasperatedly.

Hades shrugged smugly.

"Seriously Hade-"

"Truth or dare, Hades?" said Demeter creepily, cutting her daughter's sentence.

Persephone looked surprised. "Truth or…dare?" The spring goddess glared at the other deities, who shrugged in reply.

"Truth or dare? Really?" said a flabbergasted voice.

"Were you with Persephone, Hebe?" asks Zeus.

"No," answered the goddess of youth, standing by the door of the throne room. "I saw her going through the flash mob earlier. Thought I'd follow her he-"

"Dare," replied Hades courageously to his sister-slash-mother-in-law, cutting Hebe's words. A frown strangely lingered on Demeter's face. Hades' eyes popped open, realizing the goddess peculiarity.

But then Demeter produced yet another creepy smile. "I dare you to choose truth."

"Not fair!" insists Hades.

"It's a dare," replied Demeter monstrously. Her look resembled a monster from some Japanese anime.

"Why were you loitering in Zeus' fist at the fourth of July without pants?"

All the other gods huffed audibly.

"Awkward," squeaked Hebe. Persephone could only freeze in her spot.

"Are you stalking me?!" asked Hades violently, his body jolted. "I never did such thing!"

"I have my own sources," answered Demeter darkly. "Answer me. Now."

Hades attempted pinching himself. Was this some kind of prank of Morpheus, who owed him a few golden drachmas?

 _No_ , Hades thought. _It's freaking real_.

"I have no idea what you're talking about!"

"Oh, really?"

"Yeah! Really!"

"No, you're lying," squeaked Apollo, possibly wanting their feud to end.

 _Damn god of truth, that Apollo_. Hades forgot about that.

"Someone took my pants, ok!" He spat, defeated. His brothers snickered. Persephone remained behind Demeter at the entrance. Zeus offered Persephone and Hebe a seat, but they both declined and left.

"W-well then," stuttered Hades. And then he turned to Apollo. "Truth or dare?"

"What?" he complained in a terrified manner.

"This was for earlier."

Hades thought of sticking out his tongue, but was too lazy to do it.

Apollo slowly leaned backwards and said, "Truth."

"I'm curious with you and Hyacinthus," began Hades. "Yes, you may have looked like best friends or brothers, but sometimes I think you two are…more than that."

"I feel the same way," agreed Artemis.

Apollo shot them a violent look.

"Why does everyone ask that? Hyacinthus and I are only like brothers to each other! There was nothing romantic. It was platonic-COMPLETELY PLATONIC. Why do you guys insist that we're lovers?"

"Chill," said Hermes. "You're not, okay? We get it. And hey, if every woman this dude liked said 'yes' to him, he'd overthrow Zeus as the harem king."

Silence followed Hermes' words until Apollo's irritated expression broke into a fit of laughter.

"Okay, okay, I'm fine," the sun god said while laughing.

"Why did you mention my name?" asks Zeus with a furrowed brow. "And what's 'harem king' supposed to mean?"

Hera hissed.

"You don't know?" laughed Poseidon.

"Tell me; I'm willing to know!" insisted Zeus.

"Aphrodite, truth or dare?" Apollo cut his father's words..

"Dare!" declared Aphrodite.

"Alright then. Sit on Hephaestus until five gods are dared!"

"What?" stutters Hephaestus. "You can't do that!"

The god was obviously blushing.

Albeit Aphrodite noticing his blush, she came near the fire god and sat on him. The others were startled: Aphrodite sitting on her husband's lap. _Is that even her?_

Aphrodite smiled calmly, her legs crossed. "A dare is a dare."


	7. Chapter 7: Dare Limits

Hephaestus had his right calf itching. Oh, how he wanted to scratch it thoroughly...

It was just that the goddess of love and beauty was sitting on his lap.

It was impossible. No, it was possible-he could do it- but he would never dare do it.

Not with her on his lap.

So he bit his lower lip, thinking that maybe the itch would just disappear. His eyes were twitching, though.

Aphrodite closed her eyes and inhaled, and then exhaled after a few seconds.

"Zeus," she called.

The aforementioned god widened his eyes.

"Truth or dare?" she asked, almost sounding like a chant.

"Truuuuuuuuuuu-" and then he hesitated, "uuuuuuu...nooooo...waiiiiiiiiiit...uhhhhhh...Daaaaaaaaaaaaa...no, no, no..."

He was droning, making the atmosphere boring. It then stirred irritation among a few deities.

"Can you please just choose now?" chided Poseidon.

"Father, please, for the love of Olympus," seconded Artemis.

The king of the gods puckered his lips and said, "Dare."

Aphrodite puffed her cheeks and beamed.

"I dare you to wear a mini skirt!"

Everyone gave looks at Aphrodite, now imagining Zeus in the apparel.

"It's…uninteresting," muttered Hades.

"Skirts are almost like the tunics we wore back then," uttered Athena, "so why that dare?"

The others thought of the same. The dare was not that entertaining.

But Hera was contemplating on something else.

 _Not those_ , thought the goddess. _Anything but those, oh goodness gracious!_

Zeus was also not amused by the dare. He snapped his fingers to make a mini skirt replace the clothing of his bottom half.

And that was where the horror began.

Apollo screamed like a girl, Artemis looked like she wanted to cry, Athena to vomit, Poseidon's eye twitched, Hades grimaced, Hera shook her head gravely, and well...the others were doing hideous expressions.

And then someone came wolf-whistling.

"Hot damn, look at those leg hairs!"

Heads craned to the war god, who stood at the door of the throne room.

"Like you've never seen them before, Ares," said Zeus in an exasperated manner.

"Mom was the one who usually saw it all," he answered back as he goes to his throne. All their eyes met Hera, who was covering her face in shame.

It took a while for Ares to register the fact that Aphrodite was on her husband's lap, and his jaw became wide open in response.

"What the heck are you doing there?" he asked her.

"It was a dare," she answered. "And hey, you didn't show up when we were supposed to have our date!"

"Buuuuuuuuuuuurn!" Bellowed Apollo as the couple was arguing.

"That line's for Hephaestus, dummy!" scolded Hermes.

"I'm the sun god, I can own that pun!"

"Place water to the burned area!" chimed Poseidon.

"It's supposed to be cold water," replies Athena, "And seawater is not that eligible."

"Pipe down, smartass I say what I wanna say!"

 _Puny non-intelligent god_ , the goddess said in thoughts.

"You must have been with another woman, then," Aphrodite rolled her eyes at her lover, not paying attention to the talking deities.

"That's how we roll, babe!" shrugged Ares.

"War god, truth or dare!"

Zeus boomed loudly to get everyone's attention, and it worked, silencing everyone. And then he made a look as if he was forgetting something.

"Aphrodite, how long do I have to wear this?" he asked.

With that, the others focused back to his oh-so-terrible leg hairs and began freaking out inwardly.

"Oh," says Aphrodite with a quite disgusted face, "Please, you can take it back now."

A snap of the lightning god's fingers and his lower part was dressed the way it was earlier. It wasn't that long, but it was enough to hide the most hideous hairs. And with that, everyone was relieved.

"Truth or dare, Ares?"

"Huh? What?"

* * *

"Oh, I got it," he said. A sentence wasn't enough for Ares to know what they've been doing, and he had Athena retell the story in all honesty.

"So?" his irritated father asked.

"Dare!" Ares barks, pounding his right fist on his chest- to where his heart is.

"I dare-"

"Yay, Attack on Titan reference!" interrupted Apollo childishly, looking at the pose Ares did.

The other gods looked at Apollo in question.

"Never heard of that," answered Ares nonchalantly.

"Oh, you don't need to ask," chimed in Artemis. "It's just one of those Japanese cartoons he's obsessed with."

Apollo gaped.

"Anime is not cartoons."

Artemis sighed.

Zeus wanted to butt in on them to remind them that he still had to dare Ares.

"Deities-"

"Wait, it's an anime?" asked Ares, unaware of his father's impatience.

"Huh? Yes it is!" said Apollo. "It's really popular."

"Cool! Is there war in it?"

"Yes, yes! Oh my gods yes there is a huge war in it!"

"Wait, you watch Anime?" asked a surprised Artemis.

Zeus cleared his throat, but before he could talk, he was yet cut again by another deity.

"What's wrong with watching anime? It's not at all bad."

Artemis widened her eyes at Athena, who looked like she wanted a debate.

"Not really. It's just that I don't get how some obsess over them."

"You should start watching sometime, so you can understand what it feels like."

"Um, I guess I'll leave it to Apollo. He's the one who understands those things more than I do."

"Oh? But really you should- "

"Everyone, will you please keep quiet?"

The talking deities hushed at the irritating voice of their ruler. Zeus took a few seconds to breathe in, then asked "Truth or dare?" again to the war god.

"I said 'dare' earlier! I'm not backing down!"

Zeus cracked his knuckles for no particular reason. "Wear a bikini over your armor."

Ares looked devastated.

"What?!"

"But for how long?" asked a curious Hermes. "It's not like he's going to wear it forever, isn't he?"

Hera agreed with him. "Set up a limit, Zeus."

"I agree as well," seconded Aphrodite, now leaning on Hephaestus as well as sitting on his lap. The fire god was blushing really red.

"Oh, perhaps he will have to wear it until the game ends, then." came his reply.

He snapped his fingers, willing a very attractive bikini to appear at his son's armor. A scowl was on Ares' face the moment he felt the presence of lacy bikini underwear over his armor.

"My turn?" he asked. Zeus nodded.

"Hades!"

The underworld king glared at his nephew. He knew he should have left earlier.

"Truth or dare?"

"Truth."

"What's with your son and Apollo's? Is there a thing?"

Hades widened his eyes. Nico di Angelo had been hanging out with the head of Apollo's cabin, Will Solace. Rumor has it that there was something between the two of them. It wasn't friendship, but something more than that.

"I can't believe you're into knowing people's love lives," interjected Aphrodite.

Both Ares and Hades glared at her.

"What?" she pouted, "I think they're cute."

"Solangelo," whispered Artemis to her twin brother in a dark way.

"I honestly find it weird for me because my spawn aren't really that into love, and all that coochie-coo stuff" came Hades' awkward reply. "There was Jackson (Poseidon cringed at the mention of his son), and now that Solace boy. But I think it should be okay; there were times when I thought they'd do well." And then he turned to face the wall. Demeter snorted with that.

Apollo shivered and arched an eyebrow.

Aphrodite gasped aloud. "Do well? Do well with what? Tell me, tell me!"

"Hephaestus, truth or dare?" Asked Hades, still facing the wall.

"Well," replied the blacksmith, "Truth."

"Do you like the feeling of Aphrodite sitting on your lap?"

"Wait, what?"


	8. Chapter 8: Unfashionable

"Wait what?"

"Didn't hear me?"

Hades grinned. Since he'd received such a burning question from the lightning god, why not give some of those burns to his next victim?

 _It's time to burn the fire god himself,_ he thought.

"I asked if you like the feeling of Aphrodite sitting on your lap."

Well, that's something, having the most beautiful person (or rather, deity) sit on you. _What should I say?_ Hephaestus thought. _Honored? Excited? Amused?_

Nope. The itch was still bugging him to Tartarus.

His wife looked at him in a curious expression, and the blacksmith blushed. Oh no. Oh no. Just no.

"Um, oh sorry...I'm too focused on that itch in my leg to really feel anything besides annoyed."

The rest of the gods looked at him as if he was a splotch of mud on Aphrodite's clothing, but Hephaestus swiftly changed the scene.

"Poseidon!" he called.

"Wait, me?" called the god.

"Yeah. Uh, you." He cleared his throat to get rid of his awkwardness and spoke again.

"Truth or dare?

"Eh...fine. Dare," answered the sea god. "Thought it's not like I want to embarrass myself or anything."

 _And then you are going to regret you chose dare_ , thought a glaring Athena.

"Go to a beach, wear a bikini and sandals, and say you have barnacles on your feet to someone."

"Hey!" The god cried in protest. "Ares had that dare!"

Athena sighed. She wasn't Apollo, but she knew this was coming.

"For your information," she said, "Your dare makes a lot of difference. You have to go to the beach and-"

Poseidon disappeared before he could hear any more lectures from the goddess. She really knew how to annoy him to death.

After all that, Hestia, who was secretly scarred about those dares with "almost" public nudity, thought about what would happen to the mortals when they see Poseidon's godly body hair. She decided to watch the horrible scene and hoped it wouldn't go bad while the others were laughing at the dare.

"I like this! He's gonna get it!" Ares laughed as he doubled over.

"I cannot imagine him really doing this! What insanity!" Hera exclaimed, fanning herself with a fan made of peacock feathers to somehow decrease her perturbation.

* * *

Poseidon could almost hear the rest of the gods saying, "Montauk? Again? Really?"

But it can't be helped. He loved that beach more than anywhere else in the world since a series of beautiful things happened.

The god grumbled about the crazy dare, and then realized he was still in his Hawaiian outfit. He then entered the men's room, entered a cubicle, and changed to a bikini and women's flip flops with a snap of his finger. After counting to ten, he opened the door, ready to reveal his hideous look.

To his horror, someone familiar saw him first.

Paul Blofis.

He knew the guy as Percy's stepfather, whom he met during his son's fifteenth birthday party. Unfortunately, the man still recognized him very well too, so an awkward tension developed around them.

"Uh," he started to speak to break the tension between them. "You're Percy's dad, right?"

Poseidon felt so insecure with his chest hairs that he thought Paul was speaking so he could somehow avoid looking at it.

"Yeah well..." What was the other part of the dare again? "Oh...uh, I have barnacles on my feet!"

"W-what?"

And he dashed outside the restroom. But little did he know that it was going to be worse. He bumped into someone. And when he looked at the stranger he bumped into, his entire world fell apart.

He saw her, the beautiful woman with long brown hair with streaks of gray and blue eyes that change color in the light. He was so down, especially when she faced him, and her warm smile vanished.

"Poseidon?" she asked, her lip quivering.

The sea god smiled crookedly, "Sally, hey!" and disappeared in a flash.

* * *

"He just got owned!" exclaimed Hermes.

Apollo laughed hard. "It's really nice to be stupid, sometimes, you know?"

Poseidon ignored the jeers of the other deities and covered his face with both his hands.

Why, though?

1\. Sally saw him.

2\. Sally saw him.

3\. For crying out loud, it was Sally Jackson and her blowfish guy!

Hephaestus found that awkward, and wanted to pity him, but he was too lazy. Besides, he got Aphrodite sitting on him. Two more dares and then he was going to be free. Although a part of him hated the fact that she'll be sitting back on her throne. He barely saw the radiance coming out of her personality. He was going to miss that cute moment he had with her, especially the feeling of the way she sat-

 **WHOA. KEEP IT PG FIRE GOD.**

He focused himself on the sea god, who was now staring at gods with challenging eyes.

Athena almost snorted. It was that "strategy" of staring people in the eyes to find out who was nervous, scared, or whatnot. _Why do that? Couldn't he pick randomly?_

 _Does he want to piss me off? Because it's either he's a total idiot or he wanted to start a fight._

The sea god was getting on her nerves.

So when Poseidon turned to glare towards her gray eyes, Athena glared back. As she surveyed his eyes, she noticed that he was stifling a grin, perhaps a laugh.

 _Let's wipe that funny expression off your face_ , she thought.

She glared back at him. She hated the way he would always look like a doofus in front of her.

"A-athena!." Poseidon stuttered.

"Are you sure you want to ask me?" She said with a tantalizing look. Her aura was felt by the other gods and they felt inwardly scared. That was just Athena in her war look. And that wasn't still the complete package- she wasn't wearing battle armor or wielding a weapon. Perhaps being intimidating came naturally for her.

"Hera," he said, sighing. "Truth or dare?"

Hera thought she wouldn't be that troubled with what the sea god had experienced with Athena, so she said, "Dare." But she was wrong.

The scarred face of Poseidon turned into a cheery one. "Alright, then! You'll be my son's personal slave for as long as he wants!"

Hera felt her heart pounding wildly. "Which one?" She said in a small voice. She posed on her seat as if she planned on fleeing with a jet pack.

"Oh, of course, I meant Percy Jackson! And oh yeah, you're not supposed to tell him it was a dare. And ooh! Always address him sir, and it is encouraged that you assist him manually!"

A loud gasp escaped from the mouth of almost every deity. Athena cheered for herself inside her head, happy to not be receiving a very humiliating dare, which was almost like the one Apollo dared her for round one.

"Percabeth! Oh yeah!"

She had been a goner.

Now it was Hera's turn. The goddess of marriage sighed, and looked like she was about to cry. Why her? That Athena!

"Why are you still in your throne?" She glanced at her husband, who was half jeering at her. She glared back.

"Lady Hera," Apollo called. "Go on! Do the dare!" But deep inside, he thought: _Ooh, this is so gonna be exciting!_

Hera then stood up on her throne slowly. She hated the way her legs were as fragile as noodles, because they were shaking. And even when they were entirely covered with brilliant clothing, they were just obvious. Aphrodite was actually noticing it, with a duck face and wandering eyes.

 _Why are my legs shaking? I hope no one sees it_ , came her thoughts over and over.

But every god actually noticed. She's been quite hard to Percy -actually not just him but most of the seven of the prophecy- and now she was going to fall on her knees to him. With a shaky hand, she snapped her fingers and willed herself to go to camp half blood.

* * *

Percy was glad friends were going to be there. He didn't matter that their bonding time on the lake was going to be for no reason at all, for he needed a distraction to forget the previous weirdness by two gods namely: Athena and Poseidon. He wondered if Annabeth thought of that too, just without Poseidon's part. But he would be happier if she forgot.

"Percy!" called out a voice which belonged to Jason's, "Hurry up, man! Or do I need to help you find your underwear?"

"Hey!" He called back in protest. "I'm coming, okay?"

He grabbed a tiny duffel bag and exited his cabin.

"We're not the only ones, you know," Jason continued as they walked. "There's also Grover, Tyson, Rachel, Travis and Connor. I thought of Clovis, but he'd just sleep during everything. Leo invited Calypso, but she's busy with the cabin four girls. Coach Hedge is also quite doing a lot of coochie-coo with his family. Nico is busy helping Will in the infirmary."

Percy absorbed the names. "Not bad," he commented.

Just then, a bright light shone from behind them. To their astonishment, the two boys turned around to see Hera, the Queen of Olympus, bow down to them.

"Perseus Jackson...sir," Hera pondered over the word with detestation, "I am here to fulfill my duties as your slave for as long as you wish."

The boys had their jaws wide open before they knew it. The goddess grimaced. She didn't want to delay this. The sooner, the better.

"Your time begins now," she snapped, and then tensed, "Sir."

The next second Percy and Jason were jumping up and down like girls, and Hera was more depressed than ever.

When they reached the lake, they were all staring at the trailing goddess.

"Lady Hera," said Piper.

"Lady Juno," said Hazel.

 _Why is the queen of the gods here?_ Rachel thought. Since Athena's appearance earlier, she had been suspecting things.

Hazel's term almost made Hera have a headache, but she somehow managed it, because on her mind lingered the murderous dare.

"I am here to attend to Sir," she snarled at the address, "Perseus Jackson for whatever he needs and wants for as long as he wishes." The expected came for her; everyone went very flabbergasted they might as well want to drown in the lake.

"This isn't some kind of trap, is it?" Annabeth growled, clearing strands of curly blond hair off her face. Hera understood her. She was obviously afraid the goddess would bamboozle them into something deadly, or yet, humiliating. Her cow episodes have been irking the girl lately.

"I come in peace," Hera said calmly.

 _Ooh, like an alien_ , thought Leo, who was mentally giggling. Unbeknownst to him, Hera could read his thoughts.

"Oh yeah!" exclaimed Percy. "Um...my friends are also your masters! Attend to what they want!"

"Anything we want!" emphasized Jason.

Piper bit her lip hard, her conscience kicking in. "Anything we need, you mean, Jason?" She suggested so as she tucked her hair away. Should she charm speak? No, that would not make her stand up for what she was going to say. She cleared her throat. "Let's feel lucky we have a goddess on our side for more fun in this little swimming-fishing-outing. I don't think she's a slave. Perhaps an "assistant" would be more preferable. A divine assistant! Besides, without Lady Hera, we would all have died." And then she pointed at Leo. "Especially Leo, whom we nearly lost!"

Hera forced herself to smile, but she just couldn't. It's not like they don't hate her anymore, though at least her situation was not going to get worse. Percy puffed his cheeks, the guilt plunging inside him.

"Yeah, Piper's right!" He tittered crookedly. "That will be my first command!"

The goddess seemed contented. "Very well," she said bowing.

So because of sweet Piper, Hera was saved. After minutes of looking at them while swimming, the first thing she had done was to get rid of some thorn stuck to Leo's waist, somewhere above his buttocks. Sure, a goddess would have put that out in a snap, but Frank told her to do it like a mother. Besides, the dare told her to do things manually.

"Leo must have really missed Tía Callida's love and care," Frank had said, and immediately told Hera that he was teasing Leo, for her to not get the wrong thing.

And the guy was shouting because the thorn was long.

"It's better to pull it fast than to feel the pain slowly," Hera defended herself.

And then she had to scrub mud off Grover's legs. It was challenging, because his legs are very hairy. It was typical Satyr stuff.

For the time being, she'd done lots.

1\. Get rid of the "gross thingy" stuck between Tyson's teeth. (Hazel almost fainted)

2\. Braid Rachel's hair ("Princess Merida needs proper grooming!" said the Stolls, something the oracle was not fond of).

3\. Pull weird twigs out of Annabeth's hair, which she acquired from swimming.

4\. Rub sunscreen on Piper's back because she couldn't reach it.

5\. Violently catch a fish with two hands (Percy fainted and everyone yelled "CPR!" To Annabeth)

6\. Cook (with Leo's assistance) and eat the fish (Double murder for Percy).

7\. Make Jason burp by tapping his back ("Baby gonna burp now!" Joked Leo).

8\. Catch every prank the Stolls are to do.

9\. Fix everything up.

They had been there for approximately an hour. It was short for an outing but it was all they could have for that day. Awkwardly, Percy and the rest bid Hera goodbye. She smiled awkwardly too, as she disappeared in a flash of light. Surprisingly, she began to reflect how enjoying it was. They all didn't want to admit that, but it was so. Rachel looked at the braid the queen goddess gave her. Her pulse couldn't stop beating, and it bothered her.

"Hey, Rachel!" called Travis, "You have to keep it forever!"

"All hail Princess Merida!" Connor jeered.

"You two!" She scolded, but the event of the gods doing strange things bothered her more. She recalled a weird conversation between Percy and Hera that she suddenly overheard.

 _"Lady Hera, what's with my dad creeping me out in the cabin?" He had said._

The deity almost flinched but answered calmly that she doesn't know and that she had to attend to Piper.

The prophecy began to unravel itself. Rachel didn't know for how long it would take for it to accomplish, but what she knew was that the deities are somehow in an odd unity right now.


	9. Chapter 9: Luck

"Aw," cooed Poseidon. "That was…motherly."

Hera's cheeks went hot. The outing was tiring.

But she enjoyed it.

The goddess dismissed the thought and sat on her throne. She found it annoying that the other gods found it touching.

"Um, you know what?" Apollo suddenly spoke. "I think my young lady is detecting things."

"Young lady?" Artemis repeated.

"Rachel. She's feeling kind of eerie," said the twin god.

"Well, perhaps you gave her a prophecy?"

"Good point," said Hera. "And he started it, remember?"

"Yeah." Agreed Hermes. "Athena and the Percabeth cheer dare!"

Athena glared at the messenger god. When she thought they would all forget her embarrassing moment. She sighed in disappointment.

"I feel like asking Apollo," Hera suddenly declared, and asked the question.

"Uh...dare?" He answered with hesitation. The goddess grinned.

"I remembered hearing from Jason earlier that Nico was with Will in the infirmary."

As if on cue, Hestia poked her flames. The view of Camp Half Blood was replaced by that of the infirmary. In the said room were Nico and Will, who were cleaning stuff.

And the two were all alone.

Apollo flashed a disturbed look.

"Solangelo," smirked Artemis.

That disturbed her twin brother even more. "Woman, why are you acting like Aphrodite?!" He half-yelled. Aphrodite was almost taken aback, and her husband felt the jolt.

"No I'm not," Protested the huntress, "They're both boys, anyway, and they have nothing to do with my hunters or anything."

"Seriously?!"

"Children, we're in the middle of the game."

The twins were suddenly stopped by their father. As they looked to face Zeus, he immediately looked at Hera to continue.

"I dare you to be invisible and sing Somebody to You. And only Nico should hear it."

Aphrodite giggled. Awkward love story, she said in thoughts.

"What the…Lady Hera," Apollo blurted in surprise, "You listen to The Vamps?!"

Everyone looked at her. Hera looked back with a stern gaze, as if saying, "What's wrong?" Apparently Hephaestus voiced it out.

"What's wrong?" He asked. "Who the heck are The Vamps, anyway?"

Hera snarled, along with Aphrodite's gasp. What she needed was someone to defend her for her fangirling, not someone who had been living under a rock.

Aphrodite looked back at Hephaestus. "You don't know about them? They're one of those boy bands that are popular today."

"Oh," answered the enlightened blacksmith, "Like those One Distraction guys?"

"You might mean One Direction?"

"Oh," he laughed awkwardly. "Yes, that." How'd he know anyway? He rarely got out of his forge, making new innovations and everything. Those One Distraction songs just so happened to reach his realms by those crazy nymphs passing by and chatting about five British boys who conquered the world. To him this fangirling thing was weird. Especially now that he learned his mother was idolizing one.

Apollo raised his brow. "You need to hang out more," he said.

"Apollo," called Artemis. "The dare."

The twin god looked like he was about to complain, but he reluctantly stood up and went to the camp half-blood infirmary.

* * *

Nico wanted to talk to Will, but he couldn't find a sentence. To him, the atmosphere was awkward, because for about twenty minutes they were silently cleaning up the place. He kept glancing at Will absentmindedly, quickly looking away when he would notice him. The son of Hades couldn't take him out of his mind: the blue eyes, the shaggy blond hair, and his concern for him during the previous war.

 _Doctor's orders_ , he'd said. But even until now he kept saying that to him whenever Nico was not okay, especially if he would deny that he wasn't okay. The son of the underworld god could really hear the sun god's son's voice before he could sleep. _He's just so damn cute_.

 _Oh gods, cut it out_ , He mentally scolded himself.

All of a sudden, Nico could feel a weird sensation behind him. He tried to sense any spirit roaming around the place, but there wasn't any. He suddenly felt alarmed. Will could notice his agitated expression.

"Is something wrong?" He called.

"No," replied Nico. He didn't want Will to fuss over him, so he lied. "I thought I saw the Stolls peeking through the window."

Will then looked through it. Nico looked away, as to not bother him anymore. However, he started to get more disturbed. A strum of a guitar echoed though his ears, followed by a singing.

 _Yeah you!_

 _Yeah you!_

 _I used to wanna be_

 _Living like there's only me_

 _And now I spend my time_

 _Thinking 'bout a way to get you off my mind_

"There's no one," called Will, but he acted as if he didn't hear the song. Nico started to have chills on his spine. Should he tell him, or not?

 _I used to be so tough_

 _Never really gave enough_

 _And then you caught my eye_

 _Giving me the feeling of a lightning strike_

Somehow it disturbed Nico that he can relate to the song, right at that moment. No. He always felt like that about Will.

Look at me now, I'm falling

Can't even talk, still stuttering

This ground I'm on keeps shaking oh, oh, oh, now!

 _All I wanna be_

 _All I ever wanna be, yeah, yeah,_

 _Is somebody to you_

 _All I wanna be_

 _All I ever wanna be, yeah, yeah,_

 _Is somebody to you_

The son of the underworld god felt really awkward now. Will looked back at him, which made him turn around embarrassingly.

 _Everybody's trying to be a billionaire_

 _But every time I look at you_

 _I just don't care_

 _Cause all I wanna be_

 _All I ever wanna be yeah_

 _Is somebody to you_

 _Yeah, you!_

 _Yeah you!_

The weird sensation that Nico felt instantly drifted off the second he heard the last strumming of guitar. _What was that? Was someone playing on him? Was this person well aware of what he felt?_ Nico sighed. At least the song was over. Now all he had to do was to stop blushing, as he slowly breathed in air. He even slapped himself in a volume that Will couldn't hear.

Will secretly glanced at Nico. He wasn't sick or anything was he? The Apollo kid was just concerned about him. He often enjoyed his company nowadays and would feel uneasy whenever hi friend was. There was this bond that you can't help but be happy of. "Nico, could you help me clear out the old desk?" He called out to the boy who was looking away from him.

Nico quickly blinked his eyes. "Oh! Uh, okay," he called back. As Nico came closer, Will couldn't help but notice the red marks on Nico's face, and asked what that was.

"It's just scratches!" He answered with an affright look. "Nonetheless scratches!"

Will dubiously surveyed his face. Those marks aren't from scratches, and he doesn't have allergies, as he was told. But he decided to let it off. Perhaps he just felt that awkward stuff that happens when they were sometimes alone. He felt the same thing, anyway.

* * *

"That was so cute!" Squealed Aphrodite, as an upset Apollo arrived. "And now my dare has ended." She stood up from Hephaestus, smiled, and sat on her own throne.

Ares glared at the forger, who was making a face that said _deal with it_.

Why was he even worrying? It's not like they were into each other or something...

As he sat on his throne, he was more disturbed to see his twin sister beaming with whatever craziness she had in mind. What it was; Apollo didn't know, and he didn't need nor want to. But it wasn't just Artemis. Everyone was laughing, grinning, smiling.

"You know," Athena spoke as the laughter died down, "In Japan, they call such a relationship 'yaoi'."

 _You smarty pants owlhead._

"I know that," he grumbled. It was really weird that everyone in the family was fawning over some cheesy pairing that involved his son. Sure, he had those children in the music industry who get paired to numerous other celebrities, but Will Solace's case was different. This was why he was so uneasy.

But then, something popped into his bright mind.

Japan. His lip started to curl.

"My lovely twin sister!" He addressed, as he stood up from his throne as if he was being Ryan Seacrest or something. "Truth or dare?"

Artemis looked at her brother, and answered, "Dare."

His brother smiled rather "lovingly" at her and spoke the dare in a Haiku.

"My dear Artemis,

You have to speak in Haikus

I am so awesome."

She instantly looked forlorn. As much as she hated her brother's haikus and antics -that in truth she really loves him, except for that part- why that dare? But she stopped looking defeated. Women do not simply lose to men. She bravely spoke her first haiku.

"Very well, brother.

I see that you're testing me

I take the challenge."

The other gods looked impressed. Athena clapped her hands slowly.

"That was very profound," she remarked. "Who knew you could do good?"

Hermes faked a cough. "Or better." And he fake-coughed again.

Demeter nodded admirably. "You deserve lots of cereal." Artemis almost cringed at the statement but she smiled. Hades muttered about something about cereal but it was good the grain goddess didn't hear him.

Apollo gleamed at him. How could Artemis do that?! He spent a whole lot of time in Japan because of that, and now the other gods claim that his sister was better than him. That was just no fair. She was just lucky.

"Excuse me, sister," he interrupted the gods' admiration, "The dare will take effect only in this game today. Now it's your turn."

Artemis nodded, and pointed her right index finger at Aphrodite.

"Dear goddess of love

I will beg for your pardon

Is it a truth or a dare?"

Aphrodite was beaming. She liked pretty stuff, and even when Artemis wasn't showing it, she was still a pretty stuff. "Dare me!" She called out.

"Turtleneck sweater

Is what I want you to wear

With the worst flip-flops"

The beautiful goddess made a little gasp, but did as she was told. Or should you say, haikued. As she flicked her wrist, her beautiful outfit turned into what the moon goddess wished: a brown turtleneck sweater with the worst flip flops whose color didn't even match the sweater. On the lower half of her body was a pair of dandelion shorts. Hephaestus and Ares said their "Oohs" at the same time. She might look out of fashion, but she was still beautiful.

 _Ahem_ , she thought, _goddess of beauty in the house_.

"Artemis," she called shyly, maybe because of that out of fashion issue. "How long do I have to wear this?"

"I almost forgot

Perhaps for the whole game too

Just like Lord Ares"

Truth be told, she didn't want to address the rambunctious god like that, but she needed another syllable. What choice did she have? She wasn't wordy. She glanced at the god. Looks like Ares was grinning like crazy, she thought. His self-esteem must have risen. But she didn't mind. Aphrodite was going to have her turn.

* * *

"Hey Rachel," Nico called out to the oracle from her cave. "Are you not busy? Can we talk?"

The redhead heard the boy's call, and invited him. "What do you want to talk about?"

Nico sat on a chair that Rachel directed him. "It has something to do about earlier, when Will and I were cleaning the infirmary. Something weird happened." He tried not to blush at the "Will and I" part. So much for the Apollo kid in his thoughts.

Rachel felt her pulse throb. Was it another weird godly thing? "Why? What happened earlier?"

The son of Hades felt eerie that Rachel knew something, which was all the more reason to tell her his experience.

"You see," he began, "We were cleaning the room when suddenly there was someone singing in my ear."

"What? Oh, I mean, what did the voice sing?"

"Somebody to you. The Vamps."

Rachel's eyes almost bulged. "That's just creepy! I mean, I like the song, but to not know where it came from!"

Nico nodded. "I know. And as child of Hades, I could sense the dead whether they were around or not. But there wasn't any!"

The mortal looked on the ground. Strange things did happen. First was Athena's cheering, even when she was against Percabeth. Second was Hera serving Percy Jackson as a "slave", and the question Percy had asked Hera during their fun time earlier. And then third was Nico's situation.

"Nico," she called. "I know what has happened. These weird things the gods have been doing-it's all from a prophecy."

"A prophecy?!"

Rachel stood up and took a tape recorder with her back to her seat.

"The one inside the recorder is the most recent prophecy I've received from Apollo. Listen to this." The mortal turned it on and played the audio clip.

 _From an uncanny twist of fate_

 _Shall rise a horrendous game_

 _Their esteem to preserve or fade_

 _Is a choice the deities will face_

The feminine but snakelike voice died away, followed by hoarse, breathing sounds. Rachel noticed Nico's shocked expression.

"The last part was me," she told him.

"No." Nico shook his head. "My fright goes to the prophecy. What kind of verse is that? It's...odd. It's not like the prophecies we have. It's in a way, messed up."

"That's what I thought so, too," answered the oracle. "Do you remember when Lady Athena appeared and started cheering for Percabeth?" Nico nodded, and Rachel went on. "And when we were all by the lake at Jason's invitation, Lady Hera appeared, saying that she was going to be Percy's attendant for as long as he wants." The listening boy dropped his jaw, and she continued. "On that same event, Percy had a moment to ask Lady Hera about why Lord Poseidon appeared to him in his cabin, but she didn't answer."

"Maybe she doesn't know?"

"That was what I heard she said, but I don't think she doesn't know. And then after that, your situation."

The son of Hades furrowed his brow. "What does my situation do with what you said?"

"I think it was a god," concluded the oracle. "Someone singing in your ear, huh? Then it could have been Apollo, if the voice was good."

"Well, it was good, but..."

"I think I may have a conclusion to this...strange day."

Nico sat properly, eager to hear what Rachel would have to say.

"The gods...I think they were coerced."


	10. Chapter 10: Softies

"Well, well, well."

Aphrodite drummed her fingers on her armrest. She still felt uncomfortable wearing the clothes Artemis dared her to, but as she said earlier, a dare is a dare.

"Zeus," she said after pointing at the thunder god, "Truth or dare?"

Zeus scratched his head. "Dare?" _Is it safe to choose dare from a woman like her?_

"Now...I um, want you to...wait...I can't find a dare. Can you suggest?"

The other gods looked at Aphrodite disappointingly. Poseidon was about to speak a suggestion, but Apollo stopped him.

"Nu-uh, you can't help," he said.

"What?" The sea god complained. "Who made that rule?"

"Me!"

"Aha!" Aphrodite suddenly beamed. Hephaestus imagined that there was a light bulb on top on her head. He had even thought of how everyone's brains would look like based on what the gods represent.

"I dare you to rap about the Hoover Dam in the Hoover Dam!"

"Huh?!" Zeus protested. "But I don't rap!"

Hera sighed. "Just do the dare, honey."

"Whoa, what?" The god exclaimed. "You called me honey!"

Hera was flabbergasted. "And?"

Seeing the irritated look on his wife's face, Zeus disappeared, off to the Hoover Dam.

* * *

Zeus remembered the Hoover Dam as part of Percy's third quest, also as Thalia's last before finally becoming one of Artemis' huntresses. He was where most of the tourists were, and he was going to be embarrassed. As he looked down, he noticed he still had the pinstripe suit, so he switched it into a gangsta suit when no one was looking. He was a bit insecure of his clothing. It doesn't suit a god like him! Besides, not all rappers are gangsta. But he simply allowed himself to wear that way.

 _I wonder what Aphrodite would think of the suit._

He tried to think of some verse for rap, but it only made him stay longer. So he took a deep breath and blurted out impromptu words.

 _Hoover Dam! Uh-huh, yeah!_

 _Hoover Dam! Go on, now!_

 _I'm in the Hoover Dam!_

 _Trust me, it's as cool as I am!_

 _And it's gonna make you happy_

 _Like bread with jam!_

 _And now I'll promote this with the rap_

 _Even if it's something I'm not good at_

 _The Hoover Dam! Uh-huh, yeah!_

 _The Hoover Dam!_

 _It's as awesome as I am._

As Zeus had predicted, everyone was looking at him with weird looks. But suddenly, someone started to applaud. After that applaud came one more, and one more, and two more, until everyone who saw him clapped, and more mortals came near to see the scene. Some even threw him a handful of bucks. It was true then; what he watched from some young adult movie: A revolution is caused by a single spark.

The king god remembered what Demeter had done as courtesy of Athena's dare. That horse dance gave her huge applauses from the graces, the muses, and all the other nymphs. But he felt better. He felt empowered. He was proud to have mortals admiring him in these days.

The audience slowly decreased, giving someone a chance to come near him.

"Hi."

Zeus was face to face with a beautiful mortal woman, with curly hair tied in a bun, earth colored skin radiantly flourishing, and the right curves that almost made his jaw drop. The bad news was, he didn't know whether he was drooling over her or not.

"Hi," he said while tittering.

"That was amazing, you know?" The woman remarked, shrugging her shoulders adorably.

"Thanks!" Said Zeus gratefully and how rare it was for him to be thankful to a mortal. "It was impromptu!"

The woman giggled. "You reminded me so much of my uncle," she commented. "He used to rap impromptu, too, even making a rap like yours. But most of the time when he does that, he used to wear his favorite pinstripe suit."

 _Oh, Zeus, that's minus a point for you_ , scolded the god to himself. _Down with me wearing gangsta clothes!_

"He passed away when I was seven," the woman continued and blinked her eyes, "all because of an illness and his raps are just unforgettable to me. Oh, I-I'm really sorry for saying such nonsense to you. But thank you for making me remember him."

"Oh, I didn't realize it, I'm sorry, and you're welcome," replied Zeus. _Better search for the guy in the underworld._

"I'm Trina," said the woman and took out a hand.

"Well, I'm uh-"

"Honey!"

Zeus' eyes almost gouged out when he saw his own wife behind him, wearing some "regular mom" clothes. With her was Hestia, still in child form, simply shaking her head.

"There you are, darling," said Hera as she glared at Trina. "Let's leave."

 _What a woman._ "Y-yeah, let's leave."

"You have a nice family," said Trina, looking from Zeus to Hera and Hestia. "I hope you have a good time in the dam." And then she stifled a giggle. It must have been the last word, or the fact that she was well aware Hera was very jealous.

* * *

"You had something to do with it, didn't you?" Flared Hera to Aphrodite as the three came back to Olympus.

"Not me," she said. Zeus half-glared at her. How could she not instigate such things like that?

"She's right, it was me." Apollo said, and raised a white flag in defeat.

"How could you do that to your own father?" The lightning god complained.

"Not really. Her uncle is my son. He died in an accident with some monster in Yellowstone back then. And yes, I gave him the rapping talent. Though that woman just so happened to be there."

Everybody else felt relieved. At least it wasn't Aphrodite, or they could have steered their way towards the second Trojan War. But most of the gods felt something nice for the sun god, especially his twin sister, who couldn't find a haiku to praise him.

"Ares," called Zeus after sitting back on his throne, "Truth or dare?"

"Well I'd say dare!" The war god roared and chanted, "War! War! War!"

"Isn't that from Kick Buttowski?" Hermes whispered to himself.

"Well," said Zeus, "I dare you to go to your cabin in camp half blood and complain girlishly about girly things."

Ares looked mortified. "What?"

"You're always with Aphrodite," said Hephaestus, "so basically, you would know."

"I'm a man!"

"So?"

Ares glared at Hephaestus. _That geek will have his enlightenment, I swear,_ he thought angrily. The war god wisely -and amazingly- stopped arguing and went to Cabin 5.

* * *

On that time of the afternoon, Frank was there, lying on a random bed, probably thinking about Lady Juno and their previous bonding time with the gang. But his eyes awkwardly surveyed the rowdy atmosphere, which was full of wrestling and "training" Ares kids. How ironic for him to be a son of the war god when he was just lying down, thinking. He never got to be at least close with his half-siblings in Camp Jupiter, so he couldn't tell the difference between Ares and Mars. He could only remember the time when both gods argued in his head. What a headache it had been.

"Quiet kid, aren't you?"

Clarisse La Rue was near him, leaning on his bedpost. Frank tried to avoid looking at her nails, which were long, and were dirtied from her last wrestle thirty minutes ago.

"No." He said. "Not really."

"Why? Miss your girlfriend already?"

Despite the natural rudeness, Frank was glad he had earned respect from his Greek half-siblings, especially Clarisse, their head. It felt nice, the way they urged him to join their wrestling even when he didn't. The Roman then wondered if the Mars children would be like that, too.

"No," he replied, "I was thinking of the weird stuff earlier."

"Lady Athena?"

"Well, that too-"

A dazzling red light suddenly cut Frank's sentence. When it disappeared, the demigods blinked and rubbed their eyes as they saw their father, Ares, in front of them. They instantly bowed, but the god stopped them.

"Don't bother." Ares sat on the nearest bed and crossed his legs the way a workaholic chic would do. Everyone oddly eyed his armor that had a bikini over it. Frank looked at Clarisse, and her expression told him that it had never been like that.

"Um, w-why have you come, father?" Clarisse addressed, clearing strands of her wiry brown hair off her face.

Ares sighed in an irked manner, and motioned his children to come over. After they had, including Frank, the war god showed them his fingernails.

Broken fingernails.

"I broke it!" He suddenly whined in outburst. His children had their jaws dropping, and some weren't even aware that they were, even Frank.

"There's this nymph who beautified it," continued Ares, "and I paid her fifty drachmas. But when I was striding in the streets, a cat jumped on my face!"

The demigods had to stifle a laugh, not because they were afraid that he is a god, but because they were feeling guilty of what happened to their father.

If what he said was true.

"And then I wrestled with the cat!" The god balled his fists in an exaggerated manner. "I clawed at it because it clawed me! But then I was no match for it; it pinned me down, fingernail-first! Oh...my poor nails. I think I need help from babe's children. I'm a mess when I manicure myself."

The god sighed and disappeared.

"What in the world was that?!" Clarisse exclaimed, her arms clinging to the bedpost.

"Was that Lord Ares?" Frank asked, obviously mind blown by the situation.

"Our very own father," answered another child, Mark.

"What was wrong?" The Roman asked. But the rest shrugged, disturbed by the earlier event. Clarisse then crossed her arms. "Babe's children, huh? That's cabin ten, for sure." She fell silent in thinking for a few moments, and then threw her arms into the air. "Yeah, I don't even want to know!"

"I could always ask Piper."

* * *

"N-no Frank, there wasn't any god by the name of Lord Ares who came in here," said Piper, scratching the nape of her neck. _Why would Ares go to their cabin?_

"Is that so?"

"It is so."

"Oh, okay." Then Frank muttered, "It could have been just some fake show."

"Fake?"

"Um, Lord Ares."

"Huh?"

Frank sighed as he looked away. "I'll tell you. But please don't tell anyone. Things are gonna get even weirder."

The Roman demigod then told his friend about his father and what happened earlier. Piper tried not to react too much for her other siblings to not listen to them. Aphrodite kids can be really sneaky, sometimes.

"It's the third time around," Piper said, "since weird deity activities are happening. Lady Athena, Lady Hera, and now Lord Ares! What's going on?"

"I have really no idea." Frank looked like as if he was thinking of strange possibilities. "Piper, do you think we should tell someone else about this? Like Jason, or Leo, or Percy?"

"I-I don't know." The girl held her chin with her right hand. "If we tell other people, it might cause a rumor or something, and that might disrespect the honor of the Olympians. I don't think we should interfere, although I have a feeling that others could have been thinking of this, too, and unless Chiron will have an urgent meeting about these disturbances."

"Wait, when you said 'other people'," said Frank, "I remembered Rachel. Earlier in the camp lake, she had been looking at Lady Hera skeptically. She must have had been warned by a prophecy."

"But wouldn't we know about that? She would tell it to Chiron right?"

"I don't know."

"Why don't we go to Rachel's cave?" Piper suggested. "If she knew this was coming, then she can be trusted."

Frank nodded, pleased by his friend's idea. "Alright, but I'll be officially terrified if there would be another of these weird activities later in the evening."


	11. Chapter 11: Theories

Frank and Piper reached the oracle's cave. Earlier, as they were still on their way, they would notice the other demigods doing their regular activities as they always do, although most of them were talking about Lady Athena's incident. Some said that perhaps it was just a deity pretending to be her, and others say that maybe she was being controlled by some spell. There was even that Hermes kid who theorized that maybe the Olympians were playing truth or dare and Athena was doing a dare. But none of those affected Frank and Piper. Rachel's confirmation would enlighten them.

"Rachel," sweetly called Piper from outside.

Frank looked at his friend with a doubting expression. "Are you charmspeaking her?" He asked.

"Oops."

The pair both heard footsteps that were getting louder. Rachel then appeared.

"How can I help you?" She asked, sounding like some clerk.

"Rachel, I think you may have an idea of why we're here," immediately said the Aphrodite girl.

The oracle tensed a bit. "Does that have something to do with the gods?"

Frank nodded. "Yes, in a way."

Rachel then let the two demigods inside, and they were greeted by Nico.

"I guess that's more members to the weirdness mystery club," said he.

Piper shrugged. "Consider us in."

Frank then told Rachel and Nico the appearance of Ares in cabin five. As he narrated, he noticed Rachel and Nico would look at each other nervously. Piper, on the other hand, had thought that maybe Ares could currently be in their cabin and she wasn't there. But it's not like she wanted to see him, anyway.

"Alright," the son of Hades scratched his hair. "That's quite too much. Acting like that is something the god of war could never do."

"We have thought of an idea that it was a fake," answered Frank, "that it was something instigated by some nature spirit or monster who wanted to destroy the gods' dignity."

"Actually, I've hoped for that," said Rachel, "but the real basis of their identity is the first weird thing: Lady Athena's appearance. Chiron greeted her politely, so it meant it was exactly Pallas Athena, even with an odd outfit on. As for the rest...they were real. Every act was from a prophecy."

"What?!"

Rachel took the certain tape and played the weird prophecy.

"That was…that was messed up!" Piper exclaimed in a deep breath.

"That's what I said earlier," answered Nico.

The oracle nodded. "This is my theory. I told this to Nico earlier, that I think the gods had to do something they didn't want to do. Lady Athena doesn't support Percy for her daughter, but she was there in the dining pavilion, cheering for Percabeth. You seven-of-the-prophecy guys aren't into Lady Hera, but she served us earlier by the lake. Like that."

Nico sighed in relief that Rachel didn't tell about Apollo singing to him.

"So," continued the mortal, "I think the gods were being dared. I know it's crazy, but…they could be playing truth or dare."

"Truth or-wait," said Piper, as she held up a hand, "okay, that is the weirdest theory ever. The gods are too formal to play _that_." She spoke of the last word as if its figurative meaning was tabooed. Frank looked like he wanted to gouge his heart out.

"Well, I don't know about their intentions," replied Rachel, "so my thoughts are until there. It's just I...well."

When she couldn't think of words to say, she shrugged, bit her lip and sighed. "Maybe we should come up with another one."

Frank nodded, and raised his hand formally. "I concur."

* * *

Every deity stifled a laugh as Ares came back to the throne room.

"Laugh all you want," he thought. He looked at Hephaestus, who was obviously enjoying it.

"Hey you, lame-o," he pointed at the god, "Truth or dare?"

Hephaestus looked at Ares. Apparently he wanted revenge.

"Truth," he answered, "but it's not like I'm afraid of you."

The war god growled. It was too bad. He could've had a good dare coming up.

"Ugh...whatever. You like Aphrodite, don't you?"

Is that something to be afraid of? Because the blacksmith wasn't. He looked at him in a bored manner and said, "Yes. Don't we all?"

Aphrodite instantly blushed. The other gods looked at him approvingly. They liked Aphrodite, with the fact that she was pretty. Just because she was pretty, yes. But she can be somehow nice, and she had to be given credit. Ares, meanwhile, kept scowling. He owned her. At least, that's what he thought.

"Apollo," called Hephaestus. "truth or Dare?"

"Huh? Me again?" He wanted to protest but replied dare, much to his sister's dismay.

"Okay!" Hephaestus inhaled sharply, and slowly exhaled with a giggle. "I dare you to kiss the floor a hundred times!"

"Wait, kiss the floor?" Apollo complained and froze in shock.

 _But he didn't have a choice, did he?_ So he kissed the floor, as Hephaestus dared him to. Of course, the gods laughed, and their laughter elevated even more as Artemis spoke a haiku:

 _"Oh please, dear brother!_

 _Kiss the floor harder,_

 _Prove us you're awesome!"_

Apollo felt so un-hot now -whatever the right word was, since it would be ironic to say un-cool- and he couldn't figure out if it was worse than singing in Nico's ear. Solangelo or Apollo x Floor?

After the hundredth kiss, Apollo quickly ran to the closest fountain and gurgled. The other gods showed their disgust in their different ways. Although two of them remained amazed.

"I ship it!" Hermes said aloud. "Apollo and the floor! Long live the couple!"

"It's Apolloor!" Aphrodite blurted and squealed at her discovery. "Yay, I found a ship name!"

Hephaestus and Ares laughed at the same time.

"I hate you guys," grumbled Apollo as he went back on the throne room, hearing those gross Apollo x Floor talks. Too bad he didn't prepare a dare for Hermes. There was, but it wasn't for him. It was for someone to feel the wrath of his revenge.

"Lady Hera!" He said in a rather authoritative voice. "Truth or dare?"

 _This one is trying to get back at me, thought Hera._ "Dare," she replied, even when she was filled with doubt. She had to show she wasn't backing down. She had pride, after all.

"Lady Hera," Apollo began in mocking formality, "I know-we all know how you remained faithful to Lord Zeus despite his adultery to multiple women, and we all couldn't help but wonder how you could have stayed in your ground even when he was hurting you."

Everyone else tensed at Apollo's words. He was getting to a quite personal matter that no one dared to speak. Hera started to snarl. Zeus felt more than embarrassed. This game wasn't supposed to get personal.

 _You're one to talk, Apollo._ Artemis thought. L _ike you weren't like father._

"Why don't you take revenge in a different way?" He asked. "Lady Hera, I dare you to flirt with a satyr!"

"What?!" Everyone said in chorus. When they thought something very bad was about to happen...it was a weird side of bad.

"F-f-flirt?" Hera stuttered. She looked white, like she was about to faint any time.

Apollo, who has been stifling a laugh, let it out. He cackled.

"Ha!" The god exclaimed in triumph. "Revenge! Solangelo fluff, huh?"

"It was your twin who said that!" Hera said. Artemis immediately flinched. Too bad she couldn't say anything.

 _I feel you_ , said Athena in her thoughts, but she didn't convey it to Apollo.

"Hey, remember what Aphrodite said!" Apollo argued. "A dare is a dare!"

Just when the nature spirits were just starting to get over Demeter's Gangnam style dare, things would become worse. The reluctant goddess stood up and left the throne room, her sandals making a clicking sound in the floor.

* * *

Simon was overlooking the view on Mount Olympus in the beautiful afternoon. He had done this a million times, although it would be good if he could share it with a someone special. He laughed at himself. The forty five year old satyr wasn't a hopeless romantic, but was willing to indulge in romance, if he could ever find that beautiful nymph of his dreams.

"Hi there, baby."

Simon looked around to see a woman in familiar clothing. This wasn't a nymph. It was the queen deity.

Lady Hera.

"Care to stay?" She asked with a wink.


	12. Chapter 12: Face the Music

"Hey there, baby."

Hera.

 _Oh gods,_ thought Simon, _It's Lady Hera. AND SHE'S FLIRTING WITH ME._

"Care to stay?" The goddess said with a wink. The satyr, now sweating on his hairy legs, took a deep breath and nodded. "Sure, Lady Hera, sure!"

Part of him didn't want it.

The deity girlishly giggled, and hugged the Satyr's arm. "Oh, you sweet little thing, you."

Simon tittered, and wondered if he should pray to Zeus to take the woman away or not. He was now shaking, and was wishing that the sweat in his legs would not reach Hera's gown.

"Pretty nice sunset, isn't it?" She asked. Simon cleared his throat and nodded. "Ah, yes. It's very wonderful."

"Are you single, honey pie?" Hera asked once more.

 _OH GODS NO, STRAIGHT TO THE WORST POSSIBLE THING?!_

What was he going to say? If he would answer "yes", then she was going to stay there or follow him for gods-know-when. If "no", then the goddess would be sure to eliminate everyone who at least looked like some imaginary girlfriend he would make a lie of.

"W-well, I'm mentally dating the beautiful sunset!" Simon pretended to be giddy with the view and looked at the sun, hoping his sentence was an acceptable answer.

"Aw, you're such a cute thing!" Hera remarked. Her grip on him slowly loosened. "I'm sorry, but I couldn't stay long, so see you around, babe." She made a flirtatious goodbye wave, and disappeared in the flash of light. The satyr then heaved a huge sigh, and slumped himself on the ground. He was screwed.

Very screwed.

* * *

Loud laughs greeted Hera as she entered back to the throne room. The goddess scowled and shuddered at the same time, still remembering her disgusting act.

"I'm sorry if you got jealous, dad," Apollo came near Zeus' throne, making a pouty face, "it was a dare."

Artemis grunted. That was the very least she could do.

"Are you kidding me?" Zeus replied. "That was so freaking funny!"

Hera glared at her husband. "WHAT IN THE UNDERWORLD DO YOU MEAN, 'FUNNY'?!" And Hades was sure offended.

"The satyr was sweating on his… legs!" Zeus said, trying not to anger his wife more.

"What did you just say?" Hera started to panic, and then looked down at her dress. "Oh. No sweat, oh, thank goodness." And then she looked back at Zeus. "Sweetie, truth or dare?"

"Huh?" Her husband reacted. "Why me? And why are you calling me 'sweetie'?"

The other gods looked at him as if saying, "Why not?"

The lightning god felt disappointed and said, "Dare?" Maybe he could find some other girl like Trina or something.

"I dare you to replace your statue in cabin one with yourself and when someone enters, dance to the song, 'Anaconda'."

"No fair!" Zeus protested.

"Yes, fair." Said Hera nonchalantly.

"No fair."

"Whatever. Do it."

Apollo and Hermes snickered, thinking that Zeus wanted to initiate a repetitive argument to delay his doom. But their father had no choice but to do the dare.

* * *

What Zeus didn't want in the phase was he had to wait for how long until Jason gets home. He couldn't stand such embarrassment. Seconds later, he heard familiar voices chatting.

"...don't mind if I disturb your homey atmosphere?"

"No, no of course not."

"I might catch you chewing on a stapler."

"No you won't."

"So you still chew on staplers?"

"No I don't!"

The voices belonged to Thalia and Jason. Zeus was feeling more ashamed than ever because Thalia already saw him do something embarrassing. He made the statue disappear, and stood on its place. The Grace siblings then entered the cabin.

"I haven't slept here in a long time!" Thalia exclaimed.

"Well, welcome again," said Jason, "but it's sure awkward to sleep with a girl in a room."

"I'm your sister, Jason. Besides, the hunters didn't mind that much."

"Just one night?"

"Yeah, probably. It Depends."

Jason then looked up to where Zeus was. "Why does dad's statue look...odd?"

Thalia did the same thing as her brother did. "Oh yeah, he used to be gold."

The Graces looked at each other. Thalia still remembered when her father sung roar in her pine tree (which wasn't really hers), and it still scarred her bigtime. What if it was Jason's turn to be scarred? Or something? What if something weird was going to happen again? Weird things really confuse her.

To their surprise, they saw the "statue" move, and then there was Zeus, with a speaker by his foot. The god started to twerk horribly as soon as the speaker blared the first lines of the most horrible song ever.

 _My anaconda don't_

 _My anaconda don't_

 _My anaconda don't want none_

 _Unless you've got buns, hun!_

"Dad?!" The siblings exclaimed at the same time.

"Huh? Eh...I what?" Replied Zeus awkwardly.

"We saw nothing." Thalia declared, with her arms crossed. "No such violent twerking happened."

The god immediately disappeared, but Jason looked at her doubtfully. "Sis-"

But Thalia cut him off. "Nothing. Happened."

Jason simply bit his lip, thinking that maybe he should spare his story about Lady Hera for later.

* * *

"Aphrodite!" Zeus called at the beautiful goddess, "Truth or dare?"

 _There will be music_ , he thought to himself.

"Well, I choose dare!" Aphrodite declared.

"You know Katy Perry's Last Friday Night music video, right? I dare you to dress like her first look there and act all nerdy."

"But why?" Aphrodite complained. She didn't even like the look Artemis dared her. The nerd look is going to make her look worse. But shd has to do the dare, so she changer herself into that Katy Perry nerd look Zeus asked. Her teeth immediately hurt because of the braces, and the eyeglasses were too big for her.

"Wow, it's just like in the music video!" Poseidon commented.

"Hey, part two!" Hades called. "Act all nerdy!"

"Ugh...okay."

Aphrodite made a music player appear, the _Last Friday Night_ song playing. She started to act all giddy, cleared her throat. "H-hi, I'm A-aphie. I-I I'm a nerdy, and I love books!"

Athena made an offended face. "No, Aphrodite, it's not like that."


	13. Chapter 13: Roleplaying

Aphrodite shrugged at Athena's remark. "I was just joking!"

The other goddess sighed and shrugged. Aphrodite then made her usual cheery face despite her look and said, "Okay! I'll play nerdy Katy Perry. Poseidon, truth or dare?"

Hephaestus felt uneasy, for some reason. If Aphrodite was Katy Perry, who is Poseidon going to be? That artist's lover?

Apparently, that's what Poseidon thought, too. So he chose dare. Never miss a chance with a pretty woman.

"I dare you to take the form of Percy Jackson and act like him!"

Poseidon was astonished for a moment, but then he started to grin. He never expected it, but the dare was something he wanted to do. He snapped his fingers and in an instant, he became a 16-turning-17 year old boy with black hair and sea-green eyes. He was now his son, Perseus Jackson.

He winked at Athena, who twitched and then grimaced at him. Aphrodite seemed to enjoy the sight. She then changed back to her original form, as she was starting to get itchy all over her skin with those clothes.

"I'm in love with your daughter," Poseidon jeered.

"Get back to your own form," Athena hissed.

"But you're supposed to say, 'stay away from Annabeth' or something." Poseidon mimicked Athena's voice as he referred to her supposed-to-be answer.

"You make me sick!"

"You know," Poseidon smirked evilly, "Annabeth and I are gonna get married and have lots and lots of babies!"

Athena took a pillow from her throne, shouted a battle cry, and rammed the pillow in Poseidon's face. The god made a cry of pain as his head hit a hard part of his throne, then turned back to his original form.

"You really took it too personally," he said, massaging the painful part of his head.

"You intended it." Athena was already on her throne, with a much empowered look.

"Fine. Hades, truth or dare?"

"What?" Hades reacted. "Just like that?"

"Yeah."

"Truth."

"You suck."

"I know."

"Your turn."

The other gods looked at each other. _Just like that?_ They thought.

"Uhh..." Hades made an annoying vocalized pause as his head swayed from left to right in searching for a victim. He then concluded to point at Hestia, who was still in her nine year old form. It's ironic that his eldest sibling currently looked like a child. But it was the inevitable for her, being the hearth goddess and all. Warmth, security, and perhaps innocence.

"Truth or dare?" He asked her.

"Dare." She answered with an expression that showed conviction. Hades was somehow astonished in this manner. But then he thought of a dare with the theme they seemingly have at the moment.

Roleplaying.

"I dare you to pretend you're Aphrodite, and confiscate one of her daughter's makeup set from her."

Aphrodite looked taken aback for a moment, but then turned relaxed, probably contemplating the mantra, "A dare is a dare."

Hestia stood up and said, "Alright." She changed her form into a simple, but beautiful housewife from the forties. Aphrodite raised a brow. Not bad, she thought.

The goddess disappeared into thin air. The fireplace of the throne gleamed louder with the blazing fire intensifying.

"I have to say this game is cooler than I thought," Hephaestus thought, his eyes gazing at the flames. It then wiped out the view of camp half blood, displaying a single person, a daughter of Aphrodite, dousing her lips in red lip stain.

It was the view of Drew Tanaka.


	14. Chapter 14: Zeus the Fabulous

Drew Tanaka thought she heard the soft crackle of fire.

She was with just a few of her half-siblings in the Aphrodite Cabin, who were either braiding each other or taking a nap for the early afternoon. She suddenly heard some crackling, blazing sound from behind. She looked at her half-siblings, searching for a sign that they heard the strange sound. They all looked behind her; more specifically, they were looking at the door to the cabin. As she looked behind her, she noticed that the door opened on its own, revealing a beautiful woman wearing old-fashioned but elegant clothes. She also wore a smile that was beyond incomparable.

 _Mom,_ Drew thought without hesitation.

"Mom," she said, but then gasped at her word, thinking it was inappropriate.

"I-I mean, L-Lady Aphrodite!"

She stuttered out her mother's name, and mentally scolded herself. Deities should be acknowledged formally! The other half-siblings who were with her did not even bother to speak and immediately bowed down to her.

On the other hand, Hestia was pleased that Aphrodite's children didn't suspect her as an impostor. After all, she wasn't that popular among them anymore. She then smiled at all of them and motioned them to stand. Afterwards, she acknowledged Drew.

"Wh-what brings you here?" The girl asked, and sat on her bed, also inviting the goddess to sit with her. Hestia smiled and sat down next to her. The others were already going back to their own affairs, but their ears were glued to the deity and to their half- sister.

"Drew-sweetie," She hesitated before speaking. "I need to be very frank with you."

Her voice was very serious, and it panicked Drew. Could it be about her misbehavior? Drew mentally admitted she'd still done those things that her half siblings disliked with her charm speaking, but she was doing it occasionally now, not every day like she used to when she was the head of their cabin. The demigod felt nervousness tugging at her guts, remembering her little tricks she did with a few of her half-siblings earlier.

Hestia finally spoke sternly.

"You've been using too much makeup."

The goddess' words struck the girl.

"W-what do you mean?" she asked frantically.

"Your makeup doesn't suit you, Drew," said Hestia, "it's too annoying to look at!"

It was strange of her to say such words in a sophisticated manner, but she couldn't blame herself for acting as Aphrodite. It was all a dare, after all.

Drew made a loud gasp, and all the other Aphrodite children almost jumped out of shock.

 _Geez, that's just for makeup!_ They all thought.

The deity tapped a hand on Drew's shoulder. "Dear, sad as it may seem, but every nymph and goddess in Olympus does not like your makeup. It's just too heavy for the summer season."

Drew felt her heart ache. Her hand reached out to a small hand mirror placed by the pillow of her bed, and gazed upon it. The goddess was right. Her eyes were too smoky. Her rouge was blushing too much. Her lips were very crimson. Why did no one in the cabin tell her to the point that her mother, the goddess of beauty, arrived just to tell her that? What a shame! Was it all because of her stalking Jason and her jealousy for Piper, his girlfriend? Drew balled her fists. She deserved punishment.

The demigod felt the deity put down the mirror with her own hand. Drew was already frowning.

"Drew, because of that I'll have to give you your punishment."

Those words shook the girl even when she anticipated it.

"I'll have to confiscate all of your makeup."

Drew wanted to die.

Cabin Ten was silent. Every Aphrodite child who was present dared not speak. Most of them knew very well the importance of makeup to a person's physical appearance. Hestia, undeterred by the tension in the room, reached out a palm towards Drew. She motioned her for her makeup.

With trembling hands, the demigod reached from under her bed and pulled out a trolley makeup case. Hestia was somehow puzzled by the fact that Drew had a lot of makeup, based on how heavy it looked. _Is she really that excessive in makeup?_ The goddess gladly took the case and smiled.

"Make this a lesson for you for using too much makeup, dear," she said and disappeared.

The sooner the goddess disappeared, a huge sigh of relief emanated from Drew's half-siblings. Drew, who was now trembling than ever due to what happened, dropped to the floor.

"No," she said, her voice only a whisper.

* * *

"Hestia, that was epic!" Hermes applauded the moment the goddess returned. She shrugged in reply, and transformed back into her child form.

"I personally want to stand up for another reason back there," she said in her small voice. "Drew isn't taking to heart what she learned for doing bad things to her half-siblings. I thought taking away the makeup from her would help humble her, and hopefully she would be open to her family."

"I'm amazed with what you did," said Zeus, "because that will also help that girl stop secretly following Jason around. She can sometimes creep around him, you know?"

"Ah, yes, she always does that too," agreed Hestia.

"Oh, but I'm sure Piper will reprimand her," said Aphrodite. "She's already beginning to suspect Drew about that. So I know she'll be dealt with, and my, I agree with you on her makeup!"

Hestia smiled at the elder Olympian. She gripped the handle of the trolley, dragging it with her as she walked towards her youngest brother.

"Zeus?" She asked sweetly.

 _Oh my,_ thought Zeus, _nice face, oh it's her nice baby faced charm again..._

"Dare?" He said in hesitation.

Hestia smiled the sweetest of smiles.

"You know," she said, "I don't really want to make you feel bad, but I'd like you to wear some of the makeup I confiscated from Drew."

"What?"

Before Zeus could construct a nice protest, Hestia gently placed the makeup case on his lap. The other gods became very interested in the dare.

"Oh! Oh!" Aphrodite called. "Let me help Zeus!"

"Why, that's a great idea!" exclaimed Hestia.

She scurried down from her throne towards them, but someone else stopped her.

"Aphrodite."

The sea god himself took her by the wrists, and gazed dramatically into her eyes. It was almost like a scene from a melodrama.

"Aphrodite," Poseidon continued, "I very much respect your role as the embodiment of beauty- I know how good you are at these things but..."

He paused for a sigh, and looked down on the floor. Zeus was baffled at his brother's action. Aphrodite looked ready to digest for what Poseidon had to say. The other deities were weirded-out at his act, especially Athena, who furrowed a brow in disgust, and Hephaestus felt jealousy again.

Poseidon finally looked up at Aphrodite again. "Please," his hands that held both the goddess' wrists moved up her hands, "let me help Zeus with the makeup."

"Seriously," called an annoyed Zeus.

"I've always wanted this, Aphrodite." Poseidon continued, ignoring Zeus. "Despite my poor makeup knowledge, please allow me to do this!"

"Well, sure!" agreed Aphrodite. "But I want to do it to!"

"Ah, then let's do it together! I don't mind!"

"Seriously?" called the other gods on their thrones. Hestia, however, was simply listening Poseidon's speech. She smiled, unlike the others.

"Anyone who wants to do makeup on Zeus could help," she said. The king of the gods simply sighed in defeat.

The goddess looked at the other gods, looking if there was someone else who would like to volunteer. Seeing that no one did, she beamed at Poseidon and Aphrodite and opened the case. She then went back to her fireplace and sat there.

"This is gonna be so cool," said Poseidon giddily as he picked an eyeliner.

"Let me put foundation on his face first!" said Aphrodite with the same level of excitement as him.

"And then I can do whatever I want?"

The goddess' upper lip curled. "Yes you can."

"I hate you guys," muttered Zeus.

* * *

Zeus' makeover took more than twenty minutes. The rest of the gods couldn't –or didn't want to- see the process, so they did things to ease their boredom like listening to music, watching the latest One Punch Man episode, or eating late lunches. Hephaestus would occasionally glance at Aphrodite and be jealous of Poseidon, and Athena was very busy typing some critique on a wattpad story. Apollo and Hermes would occasionally walk to Poseidon and Aphrodite to see how their father was doing, but they would be shooed away because they were told they'd be spoiled for the "big reveal."

And some big reveal it was.

All the other gods were snapped back to attention when Aphrodite heaved a loud sigh of relief, signaling that she and Poseidon were already done. They quickly covered Zeus' face with a cloth before they presented him.

"Gods and goddesses," the sea god exclaimed jokingly, "feast your eyes on...Zeus the fabulous!"

Aphrodite giddily removed the cloth from the lightning god, and everyone gasped aloud at seeing him. His face was pale from too much foundation, except for both sides of his cheeks where a yellow lightning mark was scrawled on pink rouge. There were little pink hearts drawn on the corner of his eyes. His eye shadow was a brilliant rainbow color. The eyebrows and the eyelash extensions were also rainbow colored. His lips were crimson red and were even studded with small diamonds. His hair and beard were even braided.

Hades was about to choke himself at the thing he once considered as his brother. "This is the most disturbing thing I've ever seen for a while."

"Both of you spent more than twenty minutes for that?" remarked Hera.

"Well, yes," answered Aphrodite. "Makeovers can sometimes be difficult, especially when it's intense."

"I even shaved his leg hairs, Hera." added Poseidon. "Thank me."

"Whoa. Now that's really cool," said Apollo.

Hermes couldn't help but agree. "It's true. Now the next time dad wears a tutu again, we won't cower in fear of his legs anymore."

A few gods laughed. Aphrodite simply giggled and took what was remaining of Drew's makeup. Poseidon apparently consumed half of it, but she didn't mind as she grabbed the case for herself.

Zeus only scowled and looked away, ignoring the other remarks of his fellow deities.

"Hey, Zeus."

The lightning god looked at Poseidon, who was nudging him by the elbow.

"What?" he grumbled.

"Your turn," reminded his brother.

"Truth or dare?"

"What?! Oh come on!"

"Truth or dare," repeated Zeus irritatingly.

"Truth," answered Poseidon, then he stuck out his tongue at his annoyed brother.

Zeus groaned. This was like the case with Hermes earlier.

"What if I told you I wanted to dare you to do the same thing you did to me?"

Poseidon grinned.

"One word: sucker!"

* * *

 **Note:** I hope you enjoyed the multiple updates! Now I'll be writing now, and not just copy pasting. Please look forward to it!

By the way, you can also support me on my wattpad, **_The Gelatin,_** and follow in Tumblr as my fanfiction username, **_arianiel_**. Have a good day, guys!


	15. Chapter 15: A Series of Truths

Poseidon grinned as he leaned on his throne, his hands outstretched in the air.

"That was close!"

Zeus can only grumble at him. His face looked adorable when he did. Scratch that. His face looked like the "old man" adorable, with all the makeup Poseidon and Aphrodite gave him. He honestly felt like a hippie wrestler with those thunder marks on his cheeks.

The room couldn't have gone any more silent when Poseidon called the goddess of strategy again.

"You seem so lax," she observed.

"Truth or dare?"

Athena wanted to look dead serious enough to know what plans the sea god kept for her. It irritated her that Poseidon was simply laid back. Still, this was Poseidon, the god she would always bicker with, and thus she decided to go along with his breeziness.

"Truth." She answered with a sigh.

"You're scared of me giving you a dare, aren't you?" His answer may be in a laid back tone, but there was something in there that still showed his pride. He was, after all, Athena's in-a-way rival.

The goddess pursed her lips at the question. "I prefer the term 'cautious'. I'm not stabbing seawater to get back at you."

"Hey, I'm the one who has to get back at you, with your 'Under the Sea' scheme."

"You already done it with you disguising as your little sea spawn."

Everyone else had to agree on that, and it was a wise decision. A satisfied Athena then asked the sea god whether it was already her turn or not.

"Go take your turn," he answered flippantly.

The goddess smiled inwardly and scanned the room for someone who wasn't called a lot.

"Lord Hades," she called, "Truth or Dare?"

Hades snapped himself alert. _This is Athena,_ he thought. She may not be as full of cheery antics as Hermes, or the aggressive retaliating type like his brothers, but she's the goddess of wisdom and strategy and who knows what evil lies in her dares? Did she pick him out of coincidence? Was there something he did to offend her? Athena's poker face was somehow disturbing the Underworld king.

"Truth," was what he answered. It was risky for him to do a dare for her.

"Alright," she answered back. "I would just like to know your opinion on something."

"What?"

"Before Nico had a crush on Will, didn't he have a crush on Percy?"

Poseidon cringed. _Percy belongs to Annabeth_ , he protested in thoughts.

Hades' eyes widened. _Not my son's love life, again!_ But then he tried to compose himself, and thought of the right words to say.

"I don't dwell on that anymore," was what he answered.

"Oh?"

"Was that it?" he asked.

"No. It's this: what if Percy and Nico got together instead of Percy and Annabeth and Nico having a crush on Will?"

Among the deities, it was Aphrodite who was the most intrigued. She had really shipped Perico –the ship name of Percy x Nico- alongside Percabeth, but it had gone low key for her when Nico had feelings for Will. Now that Athena's mentioned it, she had still somehow shipped it too. But Hades didn't. He couldn't answer without cringing.

"I…really don't want to dwell on the past, to be honest. But if they got together I'll be more awkward in dealing with my son. It's Percy Jackson. I really don't get over conflicts. I don't care if he was twelve back then, I still hate him somehow."

Demeter lightly snorted, and Hades could unfortunately hear it.

"Well, it's not like someone here's a little different," he said to get her attention. The other deities groaned. The response was obviously for the grain goddess. She then replied vehemently.

"Oh please. You're the one who began your ruckus with Percy!"

"That was nothing instigated by me!"

"How about the time you took my Persephone away from me?"

Hades furrowed his brow almost angrily.

"Get over it, will you?!"

"Oh shut up, you started this."

"Enough!"

Zeus' booming voice filled the throne room. Demeter and Hades stopped arguing. The rest of the deities looked at their king cautiously.

"For Olympus' sake, Hades, Demeter, can you not quarrel? I do not care if you two are not through with that issue, but did you really have to bring that up now? Look, as Persephone's father, I was really disappointed for Hades to act like a creep back then."

Hades gulped, looking down embarrassingly. For the youngest brother to scold at his oldest, that was somehow harsh. Then again, it was the underworld king to be held responsible, after all. Besides, Zeus looked funny for Hades to take his brother too seriously. He stifled a little giggle.

"But that conflict is over," he continued, "and Persephone was fine with it. The two of you should be alright with that too, especially you, Demeter."

Hera had been glaring daggers at Zeus, very well remembering that her husband had an affair with her sister. She scrunched her eyebrows and inhaled a deep breath.

Zeus somehow noticed his wife's actions, but he simply ignored it. He then waited if there was anyone who would speak. Hearing no one, he spoke again.

"I don't care now. I don't care if you'll ever get over it or not, but can we not express it here, at a time when most of us are bound together with this weird game?"

The deities looked at the Olympian King with understanding. It was indeed rare when they were together, and having fun at that.

"I agree with father," voiced Athena fearlessly, "for it was rare how I see all of us enjoy each other's company."

"Yes, I do to, as well." Aphrodite glanced at Athena and smiled. "It's rare how Lord Zeus wears commercial makeup the Kardashian-Jenner family use!"

Strange looks from the other Olympians greeted the goddess.

 _Okay, Aphrodite_ , they thought in blank expressions.

"That may count," said Zeus to perhaps remove the silence, "and," he said as he glanced again to Demeter and Hades, "if you start bickering again, I'll be sure to give you a dare so humiliating you'll never want to set foot in Mt. Olympus again!"

The mentioned pair was surprised. Zeus just threatened them with a dare. They couldn't believe he was serious, though, with all of that makeup.

But he was.

"That was…that was the best thing I've ever heard."

Right after the remark by Hermes, everyone started to become calm and expressed how they noticed they were having quality time together. When they were ready to play the game again, everyone's eyes were on Hades.

"Eh, alright. I'm assuming it's my turn now."

The god of the underworld scanned the room and chose Artemis.

"Truth or dare?"

Artemis wanted to be cautious. She figured that Hades would lie low in making a dare, but it was still too risky, considering the fact that everyone else wanted something comical to suppress any other serious issue that might just ruin the mood of the throne room. So she chose truth.

"Our dear Lord Hades

I choose truth rather than dare

Go ahead and ask"

Hades scratched his chin and said, "If you weren't the goddess of the hunt, or of the moon, what goddess would you like to be?"

Artemis was satisfied with the question. She could answer it quickly, if it weren't for her brother, having her talk in haikus.

"I'm fond of children

I admire their innocence

That is my answer."

The goddess couldn't think of any other word for the last line that should say she wanted to be the patron of children. _Just please understand,_ she mentally thought to herself.

"Oh, you mean you could want to be the patron of children?" Hades asked, and then Artemis nodded.

Everyone else seemed satisfied with her answer. Artemis waited for a few seconds and then called for her next victim, Hermes.

"Well…I'll say truth, lol."

Most of the other deities gave odd looks upon hearing the last word, and the messenger god gave a quirky smile.

"We've been doing truths since Poseidon! How could you not notice it? I'll just be here continuing the legacy of this series of truths."

With that, every other deity in the throne room looked like a brick hit them. Some of them eventually laughed. When the laughter died down, Artemis spoke her truth haiku.

"Now, messenger god,

Which among George and Martha

Do you prefer more?"

As if on cue, Hermes' Caduceus shook, and the two snakes moved.

"Oh, nice quesssssssssssstion, Lady Artie," George said speedily, "and the answer is no other than me!"

The other snake made an irritating hiss, obviously showing a sign of opposition.

"Oh pleassssssse, George! Hermes would be sssssssssssstupid to answer that it's you he favors the most!"

"You're just jealous of me, Martha."

"Assssssssss if!"

"Hermes would prefer me."

"No, me!"

"Me!"

"Me!"

"Me!"

"Me!"

"You know guys," Hermes began to answer in a booming voice, causing the two snakes to be quiet, "I'd just…prefer my Caduceus."

The two snakes pouted, but Hermes stopped them before they were going to protest. George and Martha then froze back to the staff.

"That was some bother," remarked Hera, looking at Artemis, who shrugged.

"So, since it's my turn now," said Hermes gleefully, "who's next?"

* * *

Hi guys! I'm sorry for the huge delay of the chapter! COLLEGE IS FRUSTRATING. Add being a student council officer to that.

I was going to post it on Saturday, but I was in Facebook instead, sending out condolences and fears as regards to the bombing of the night market in the city I live on. It was very horrifying. I loved that night market. Hopefully everything will be resolved.

I love you guys for the 10k views! I am very very grateful since you all are my source of motivation. I don't know when I'll be updating next, but I hope I'll do within this month, I guess. And for those who read my other story here, I might want to edit it too.

Thank you for supporting this work :)


End file.
